A Devil's Claws, An Angel's Wings
by Mustang2k12
Summary: The famous Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies have long since died and enlisted as shinigami. Demons that lie in wait, biding their time, are finally ready to break Soul Society's long-lived peace. IchiRuki, OCHime. M for swearing, etc.
1. Captaincy

**A/N**: Whew! You wouldn't believe how long spell-check takes when you have so many Japanese words in an English document. Anyway, this chapter is done and I am going to finish this story dammit! I know that there are a few plot holes, but bear with it. I apologize for any spelling errors, too. I'll revise everything once it's finished. Enjoy, readers. R&R

Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach. Wish I did. Don't.

Chapter 1: Captaincy

Ichigo awoke to the glare of the morning sun invading his cozy bedroom and slanting angrily across his face. He groaned and jerked his covers over his head, silently cursing whoever had decided that living beings needed so much light to survive. He wanted nothing more than to return to a peaceful slumber, but he knew he would have no such peace today. For today, something momentous was occurring that had not happened since his death 100 years prior.

"Captain Kurosaki, the others have requested your presence at the exhibition grounds," Kira Izuru said through the closed doors of 3rd Division's Captain's quarters, further irritating Ichigo.

The orange-haired shinigami grumbled at the heavy wooden doors from his downy, self-made prison, but made no move to rise from his bed. Izuru knocked on the door.

"Captain Kurosaki…"

"I'm coming dammit!" Ichigo yelled. He stumbled to his feet and tossed a pillow half-heartedly at the doors, willing Kira to be a dream that he would soon wake from. With a snort of the irony of that thought, he quickly donned his Captain's haori and stormed towards the entrance to his room.

The doors creaked open and Ichigo found himself staring into the face of one Kira Izuru, the blonde Lieutenant's hand poised for another knock. An orange eyebrow raised itself toward an equally orange hairline, daring the older shinigami to make another forward movement. Kira gulped, turned around, and started towards the barracks' exit and the exhibition grounds.

Ichigo growled and ruffled his bright hair. "Why do important days have to start so early?"

The 3rd Division Captain and his Lieutenant arrived to find the other high-ranking shinigami and company already stationed in the observation box. They were apparently awaiting his arrival. Great.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime shouted happily from her seat next to Captain Ukitake.

Curiously, when Ichigo and his friends had passed on to Soul Society, their physical forms reverted to those that they possessed when they first gained their special powers. Even more interesting, they had all retained their memories of the world of the living, including those concerning their strong connections to each other. Not even Captain Kurotsuchi could explain these occurrences, and Ichigo eventually chalked it up to the insane amount of reiatsu that each of them harbored.

Regardless, Orihime and Chad had immediately enrolled in the shinigami academy. Upon graduating, they rose quickly through the ranks, Orihime becoming the Lieutenant of the 13th Division (much to the chagrin of Kiyone and Sentarou) and Chad commandeering the position of 9th Division's Lieutenant under its new Captain, Renji. Rukia became her brother's Lieutenant at his request and Shuuhei Hisagi had been transferred to the 5th Division to be its acting Captain after Momo requested forty years prior that she be demoted to the squad's Third Seat. Isshin Kurosaki was currently chief advisor to the Captain Commander, but that did nothing for his goofy demeanor. Ichigo's sisters had also become shinigami in the 4th Division, although neither of them was nearly as powerful as their brother.

Still, everything had worked out fine so far, and Orihime waving from her seat was proof enough of that. Ichigo still couldn't figure out why Uryuu had become a member of the 4th Division, given his prejudices, but some things were meant to remain mysteries.

Ichigo gave a curt nod to the Captain Commander and sat stiffly in his seat. He knew why the Captains and Lieutenants were assembled at the exhibition grounds. The situation had been exactly the same when he entered the Soul Society permanently 100 years ago: the Captains were about to test the mettle of the potential candidates for the captaincy of the 5th Division.

Even after all this time, no shinigami had even dared to attempt to usurp Aizen's old seat. So it was going to be interesting.

"Why the hell are these guys even trying?" Ichigo whined to Kira. It had been two hours since the first candidate had entered the grounds, and three others had passed through in that time. Traditionally, when one was tested for captaincy in this particular manner, the candidate was allowed to choose one of the presiding Captains to demonstrate his powers on. All of the candidates so far were male, three were members of the stealth force, and all of them had chosen Zaraki as an opponent. A terrible decision. No doubt they all assumed that the Captain's lack of refined shunpo and his general tendency to bull rush his opponent would work to the advantage of their stealthier tactics. None of them ever made it to bankai and the longest match had been between the battle-crazed Captain and Shuuhei, which lasted forty-five minutes. Ichigo had to say that the Lieutenant had done an impressive job of not getting sliced up.

Still, none of the four were any match for Zaraki's brute strength and each one found himself face down in a puddle of blood far too soon for Zaraki's liking. Because of that, the exhibitions were beginning to become tiresome, and the orange-haired Captain thought that he saw the Captain Commander nodding off, although it was difficult to tell since his eyes were perpetually closed.

Kira leaned over and whispered to his commanding officer, "It's almost over. There's only one left."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief and silently planned to hop straight back under his covers once he returned to the barracks.

Captain Commander Yamamoto announced the last candidate for the exhibition. "Our fifth and final demonstration will be from 6th Seat Kanaye Ronin of the 13th Division."

All of the Lieutenants raised their eyebrows in surprise, several of the Captains dropped their jaws, and Ichigo saw Captain Ukitake scratch his cheek in puzzlement. Apparently, not even this man's Captain had known that the 6th Seat was eligible for the position of Captain. If he were to be truthful with himself, Ichigo had to say that none of those present believed this relatively low-ranked officer stood a chance in hell.

A figure flashed into view on the exhibition grounds, standing calmly facing the observation deck. He was a young man, maybe 100 years old at the most. Messy black hair hung to the base of his neck and into his field of vision so that the color of his eyes was obscured from view. He was slightly shorter than Ichigo, but was of slightly stockier, more muscular build. Orihime and Rangiku fleetingly thought that his face was handsome, with a strong jaw and straight nose.

Ichigo saw that the drawn zanpakuto in his right hand was simple – the blade was faintly wider than a normal katana and about five inches longer – but the tsuba was elliptical with what could only be described as a wolf's fangs within the ellipse. His spiritual pressure was average at best and his calm demeanor made him appear to be something of a pacifist. Why in the world would someone like this be a candidate for captaincy?

"Kanaye Ronin, select your opponent," Yamamoto boomed.

Seconds later, a pleasant, velvety smooth voice replied, "I select Captain Ichigo Kurosaki."

If possible, the jaws of the Captains dropped even lower.

"Hm. He's got gall, I'll say that," Captain Kyoraku chuckled from beneath his straw hat. Rukia glanced at Ichigo nervously, shaking her head.

Ichigo shrugged and rose from his seat, drawing the giant cleaver from its place on his back and leaping forward to land several yards away from Kanaye. This kid didn't know what he had gotten himself into. Ichigo was regarded as the strongest captain in Soul Society, second only to Yamamoto. And with good reason. The former substitute shinigami defeated two Espada in the Winter War and vanquished Aizen forever. This kid had signed his death warrant.

"Begin!"

Ichigo slipped easily into a fighting stance, poised with Zangetsu nearly vertical to the ground, awaiting the impending attack from his opponent. Kanaye did no such thing. He merely cocked his head to the side and smiled. "Aren't you going to attack?" he questioned.

The Captain of the 3rd Division snorted and let a smirk spread across his face. "Don't say I didn't warn ya." With that, he pulled his massive sword over his head and allowed his dense spiritual pressure to flow through his body. Amber eyes glowed electric blue and those with inadequate strength faltered under the weight of the infamous Kurosaki reiatsu. "Getsuga…Tenshou."

On the last syllable, he brought Zangetsu downward, tearing a bright azure rift in space. When the dust cleared, all that could be seen was the canyon where Ichigo's attack had pierced the earth. However, Kanaye was nowhere to be found. "Heh, guess I vaporized the poor guy," the Captain sighed. "I thought he would at least block it enough to survive."

A chuckle to his right caused him to jerk his head in the direction of the sound, his eyes stretching wide at the sight of an unscathed Kanaye.

"Damn, that actually hurt. I couldn't block all the spiritual pressure from getting through. I woulda been dead if I hadn't moved," the dark-haired shinigami laughed. "Would you like to see my attack now?"

Ichigo snorted once more and readied himself again, this time forcing his reiatsu to swirl in electric blue tendrils about him. "Bring it on."

Kanaye smiled sadly. "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

The young shinigami pulled his zanpakuto to the right so that it was perpendicular to his body, twisting it quickly so that the edge of the blade was pointed toward Ichigo. Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of reiatsu washed over the grounds, splintering some of the trees that had already been broken from previous battles. Ichigo stumbled a bit, catching himself and raising Zangetsu to guard. He spared a glance at the observation deck and saw that the Captains were in awe of this supposedly untalented shinigami. The 3rd Division Captain pulled back, preparing to shunpo, when he saw Kanaye lift his head. The younger shinigami's eyes shone bright silver, startling his more experienced opponent. And then he spoke.

"Bite him to death…"

The blade of his sword glowed an iridescent red so bright that it seemed almost white, and he swung violently, teeth bared in a growl.

"…Ankoku!"

A brilliant arc of the same red-white energy covering Kanaye's blade erupted from the tip of the zanpakuto, ripping through the air faster than Ichigo could have imagined. It was larger than a Getsuga Tenshou and more raw. It was actually similar to the ability of the Arrancar, the Cero. It felt like _power_. It rocketed forward and enveloped Ichigo in its untamed force, masking his body from view.

Rukia watched in awed silence, praying that the man who had rescued her countless times was still alive. He couldn't die from that, he just couldn't. He wouldn't be Ichigo if he did. But all she could do was grip the armrests of her chair and grit her teeth, hoping against hope that such a wildly powerful blast had not destroyed him.

"Ichigo…"

**A/N:** Wow. Seems kind of fast-paced now that I look at it. A little bit choppy. Oh well, I just have to roll with it. Review, please. It would make me happy.


	2. The Infiltration

**A/N: Long long absence, I know. I got busy and then kinda forgot about my little project here. Hopefully the next couple chapters will make up for some of that time, but they're basically tying up what began at the end of the first one. I just couldn't bring myself to make that situation concise. Oh well. Hope you enjoy.**

Rukia watched helplessly from her perch on the observation deck, hands still clutching the armrests of her seat while the torrent of power raged around Ichigo. All thoughts, save one, had vacated her head by now. She only prayed for Ichigo to be safe. It was an odd thing for her to see the orange-haired shinigami engulfed in power that was not his own. Instead of piercing blue or midnight black tinged with blood red, all that she could see was incandescent red. In fact, Rukia could not remember a time when an opponent had overwhelmed the eerily powerful man with an attack so similar to a Getsuga Tenshou. Always, their foes had used superior strategy or cunning to win, never sheer strength. Regardless, Rukia had seen the current events unfold before her round, violet eyes, and she was nearly in shock.

Suddenly, a burst of neon blue forced the red energy apart and threw up a cloud of dust from the explosion. Rukia felt Kanaye's reiatsu retract from the battlefield as he released his concentration on his attack, and the pressure on her lungs became much lighter. As her breath returned to her, she found herself relaxing. She knew exactly what that blast of blue meant: Ichigo was alive and well. Thanking the powers that be and returning her attention to the battle at hand, the small shinigami smiled.

OoOoO

Kanaye grinned a happy grin when a small pulse of reiatsu dissipated the dust surrounding the battlefield. He knew that his initial attack would never destroy the famed 3rd Division Captain. And he was proven correct when the legendary black katana poked out of the remaining dust, its broken chain tinkling lightly when the wielder of the sword pointed it squarely at the younger shinigami. "Tensa Zangetsu."

A matching grin graced Ichigo's face, his body largely unscathed except for a few shallow wounds on his neck and forehead. "Nice attack. Never seen a shikai quite like that before," Ichigo said, falling back into a guarded position. He exuded an air of confidence, but inside he was still trying to gauge the black-haired shinigami's power. That shikai had been formless, just a mass of spiritual energy directed by Kanaye's own reiatsu. There was no possible way that a 6th Seat had hidden away that much strength for so long without notice. Compressing reiatsu was a difficult business, especially when one had an excess of it. Which would mean that this man had been holding back enough to avoid detection by even the upper echelons of Soul Society. Confused but ready to fight, Ichigo took a step forward, fully intending to unleash Tensa Zangetsu's speed and crush the Ronin boy before he could lift a finger.

But Kanaye, still grinning, lifted his blade in his right hand, leveling the sharp edge with Ichigo's front. Something in that tiny movement compelled Ichigo to stop, as if a predator had just tightened its focus on killing its prey. The Captain didn't know how he knew, but he knew that this young shinigami was dangerous beyond compare in a way that he hadn't seen since Grimmjow Jeagerjacques.

"You comin'?" the younger of the two questioned, head cocked to the side. His tone was almost taunting, goading Ichigo onward to clash black steel with silver. Ichigo smirked and gripped Zangetsu with both hands, well aware of the danger he was about to throw himself into.

"You bet."

Both combatants blurred out of existence, appearing milliseconds later in the space that had existed between them. Their blades crashed together in a flurry of sparks over and over, creating what must have looked like a fireworks display to the viewers above. Gleaming silver and inky black ignited the atmosphere with their speed and accuracy, each strike potentially more deadly than the last. The two expert fighters flashed away again, this time clashing and separating in an impressive show of quickness and dexterity. The next time they reappeared, Ichigo swung an energy-fueled Zangetsu at Kanaye, effectively forcing the younger man to retreat several feet. However, the speed of Ichigo's bankai far outmatched Kanaye's natural talent for shunpo, and Kanaye sensed the orange-haired shinigami a moment too late.

The fanged zanpakuto dropped to the ground, tip buried in the loose dirt, while its wielder bounced along the ground for several yards before grinding his heels into the earth and skidding to a halt. Blood leaked from a deep wound in his back as water would from a faucet, and Ichigo sighed heavily. The Captain knew that without his zanpakuto, Kanaye would be minimally threatening: he fought like a berserker, meaning he had little to no knowledge of kido, let alone any that could not be dodged. And with damage like that, there was no chance of a hand to hand fight. He was finished, and Ichigo hoped that he wouldn't have to deal a finishing blow.

"Kanaye Ronin, do you concede?" Yamamoto boomed from the observation deck. The other Captains looked put out for the most part, save Kenpachi who looked as though he wanted to leap onto the battlefield and have his own go at the young 6th Seat. Orihime clutched her hands at her chest, worried for the safety of both parties involved in the battle, and Rukia sat stoically in her seat. Captain Ukitake seemed proud that a member of his division had fought so valiantly against the powerhouse that was Ichigo Kurosaki.

Ichigo glanced at the bowed head of his opponent. The dark-haired man had not moved since he had taken the slash to his back, and his crouched position shadowed his face and made his thoughts unreadable. The Captain of the 3rd Division could only assume that he was either in pain or weighing his options, none of which were pleasant. Why not go while the going was good?

Suddenly, Kanaye's shoulders twitched and his head perked up a bit. He began to straighten his back, then his legs, finally rising to stand fully straight and peering through his bangs at Ichigo. What Ichigo saw shocked him to his core. The eyes that gazed out from beneath the shade of hair shone silver, gleaming with power. The wounded man's right hand stretched forward and Ichigo instantly went on the defensive in case he had been wrong about his opponent's kido abilities. He needn't have worried.

"…Ankoku," Kanaye said softly. Ichigo gazed wide-eyed as the zanpakuto that he just recently knocked from Kanaye's hand rocked in its earthy prison before tearing out of the dirt and flying directly into the grip of its owner.

"I do not concede."

OoOoO

Rukia could not believe what she was seeing. Scant minutes ago, a 6th Seat had taken a direct hit from one of the most famed zanpakuto in all of Soul Society, and now he was acting as if the gash on his back was nothing but a scratch. What was even more perplexing was the manner in which the young shinigami summoned his sword; never had the petite woman seen a shinigami retrieve a zanpakuto without physical contact.

Now the 3rd Division Captain and the 6th Seat of 13th Division were engaged in heated combat. Ichigo had taken to utilizing Zangetsu's speed to confuse his opponent and inflict damage while Kanaye was easily blocking most of those attacks. Although he could not match speed for speed, he appeared to have a knack for sensing an attack just before it connected, and that knack saved him countless times.

All in all, the unknown challenger was holding his own, blocking and striking when he could. Which is what disturbed Rukia to no end. How could this relatively green shinigami be holding his own on any level with a Captain, and one who was using bankai no less. It was infuriating, and she had no stomach for it. Beside her, her previous Captain was grinning profusely at his subordinate's performance, but the raven-haired noblewoman wanted no part of this.

It simply was not natural.

OoOoO

The two titans finally stopped moving. Ichigo was getting frustrated with this battle. He was pushing Zangetsu to its limits, but Ankoku was meeting a great deal of his attacks with a solid block. He decided that it was time to end this little skirmish with his most powerful attack, regardless of the damage it would cause. If worse came to worse, the stronger Captains could contain the energy surge with their reiatsu. The slim black sword rose up and over Ichigo's left shoulder, pulsing with black fire and screaming with the intent to kill.

"Getsuga…TENSHOU!"

Dense reiatsu tore out of Zangetsu's blade and enveloped Kanaye. The young shinigami was blown backward with enough force to destroy a building and crashed into the ground roughly a hundred yards from where he had been standing. Deep gashes covered his body, the blood from them dripping over several reiatsu burns. To his credit, he stumbled to his feet but Ichigo was sure that his efforts were driven by sheer willpower. Still, Ichigo was surprised that the man hadn't even tried to defend himself against the Getsuga Tenshou.

"Hey, Kanye, why didn't you use your attack to counter mine?" Ichigo shouted to his opponent.

Kanaye swayed on his feet and ground out a low chuckle.

"That attack is meant to kill," the young shinigami rasped. "Using it to protect is about as useful as protecting myself from water with a knife."

Kurosaki frowned at that. It hadn't been the answer he was expecting; he thought that the answer would be something like "I'm too strong to take a hit like that and die." Instead the boy implies something entirely different; what, he wasn't sure, but it was certainly something foreboding. However, strange as it was, Ichigo could not let his guard down and raised Tensa Zangetsu up to attack again.

Suddenly, the orange-haired shinigami whirled just in time to catch the tip of a large, sharpened metal dart on the flat of his blade. Both combatants looked in surprise as two odd men stepped out of a shimmering oval doorway in the sky. One – he who had attacked Ichigo – was running the edge of his tongue along a six-inch-long dart exactly like the one he had thrown seconds before. His red hair was short and spiked, just as manic as his grin and his short, pointy nose. A short black jacket, open at the neck, and tight black leather pants over military-style boots covered a bulky, well-muscled physique. While that one was grinning maniacally and doing his best not to cackle out loud, the other was stoic and conserved. His stark appearance was plain: shoulder length white hair pulled into a tight tail, black oxford shirt on top of black slacks and patent-leather shoes, and an indifferent, forgettable face. If Ichigo had to guess, the calm one was more dangerous.

"Shinigami," the stoic man boomed, "you have lived long and well. Your reign over the dead has been largely unchallenged for millennia.

"However, your time is over, as is your civilization."

The Captains had risen as soon as the doorway was spotted and all but Yamamoto had drawn their zanpakuto. They held themselves back quite admirably, although it was clear that Zaraki at the very least wanted to cleave the two strangers in half.

The Commander spoke. "Who are you to claim such nonsense in Soul Society?" His voice, strong and consistent, bellowed across the exhibition grounds, drowning out the sound of the Soul Society's alarm.

This time, the bulky intruder roared with laughter and his partner flung a hand out as if to summon something. Thousands of dark portals rippled into existence and Ichigo fought back a tremor of disgust when what appeared to be half-eaten Hollows fell sluggishly into the Seireitei. "We are Death."


	3. Pandemonium

**A/N: I tried to do away with as many plot holes as I could. Some successes and some failures I'm sure. Here's Chapter 3.**

Pandemonium. That's what this was, Soi Fon thought as she slashed the mask of yet another rotting Hollow. The blade tore through the flesh with ease, although its wielder shivered when the smell of infected meat burned her nostrils. Utter chaos ran rampant through the Soul Society. The lithe Captain didn't know how this happened, but the two strange men who had minutes ago stormed into Seireitei had unleashed the masses of Hell into heaven.

That's what those disgusting excuses for Hollow were. In fact, they couldn't even be considered Hollow by Hollow standards. Their masks were yellowed with dirt and grime, their skin paper thin and worn away in patches. Muscle and bone poked out from underneath, further adding to the gruesome sight before Soi Fon.

Hollow couldn't survive like this.

Soi Fon had heard stories as a child of the armies of Hell. Supposedly, those deemed fit for that particular realm could not be sent there directly. They became Hollow instead, overcome by their need to feed on souls. They ravaged in death as they did in life, and when a shinigami finally cut one of these exceptionally evil Hollows down, the imposing gates of Hell opened to swallow it whole. Very few Hollows such as that ever became Menos Grande and even fewer became Arrancar, simply because they enjoyed feeding on human souls so much. That behavior put them out in the open for any wandering shinigami to notice. What's more, the ones that did become Arrancar were even more ruthless. According to legend, only seven truly evil Arrancar had ever been sent to Hell. Were the two intruders fallen Arrancar?

_No time to think about that._ Soi Fon thought. She took out two more enemies with a well-aimed chop of her wakizashi.

She could only hope that Kurosaki and Ronin could handle themselves while the other Captains were busy with the invading hordes.

OoOoO

Ichigo and Kanaye were fighting for their lives. Immediately after summoning their minions, the two strangers had descended upon the battlefield, attacking Ichigo and his former opponent. The two shinigami were fighting like demons, and seemed to be winning.

Ichigo was handling the calmer of the two, parrying the strikes of his enemy's simple broadsword with precision. Although he felt like the stranger was holding back a significant amount of power. Kanaye's opponent, on the other hand, was not so reserved, and was throwing an incredible amount of force into his attacks. The smaller shinigami would dodge a dart and then be forced to evade a quick punch.

"Hold still, will you, ya little bastard!" the massive brute roared as he threw a heavy fist at Kanaye's head. Kanaye, a full foot shorter than his foe, dodged easily and brought a knee into the larger man's stomach. Surprised by the strength of his tiny adversary, the man reeled backward, doubled over in pain.

Kanaye eyed the beast and grinned. "You're quick for such a big guy."

"And you're strong for such a tiny punk," the large intruder grunted in reply. He was back on his feet now, brandishing another of the seemingly endless supply of darts.

"What's you're name?"

The manic grin returned, as did the mad cackling. "The name's Enzo Esposito, and I'm the one who's gonna rip yer head off and feed it to those damn Assente!"

The shinigami glanced to his right where his companions were fighting off the rotting corpses of Hollows. Still gazing away from Enzo, he asked, "Is that what those are? Assente?"

"Yeah," Enzo chuckled. "Hollows without minds of their own, damn near being puppets. Easy to control." He licked his dart. "Now are you gonna stand around yappin' or are ya…"

"Kanaye Ronin, 6th Seat of the 13th Division. Pleasure to meet you."

The giant ruffian blinked, Kanaye's eyes situated on him once again. His grin spread wide. "Finally."

In a blur of black garments and gleaming weapons, the two warriors were at each other's throats. Kanaye hacked haphazardly with his katana while Enzo skillfully blocked with his relatively short darts. When the larger of the two saw an opening, he would launch a dart, but he could never strike tissue.

Kanaye made the mistake of bringing his sword to the side for a powerful swing, and Enzo caught him in the gut with a solid jab. The shingami flew back, regaining balance by bouncing on the balls of his feet. Enzo followed, tossing two well-aimed darts at his opponent and kicking him in the temple when he ducked. Enzo laughed harshly and prepared to send another barrage of darts when he was suddenly hit with a suffocating wall of reiatsu. The sharp projectiles clinked at his feet.

OoOoO

Kanaye, strong as he was, was no match for such a brutish man in hand-to-hand combat. The young shinigami may have fought like a berserker, but he was no fool. He knew his weaknesses just as well as he knew his strengths, and he knew when he could not compete on even ground. Fortunately for him, Enzo had given him some much needed distance by knocking him away, and he let go of the reigns on his reiatsu. It spilled out like a waterfall and he sighed as he felt the relief of relinquishing control.

Enzo, not twenty yards away, was wide-eyed and motionless, astounded by the sheer weight and amount of power. Kanaye grinned toothily, his eyes glowing ominous silver. Slowly, he gripped Ankoku with both hands, and Enzo's eyes nearly burst from their shallow sockets; Ankoku's blade shimmered as if to dematerialize, then burst into a flame of iridescent red-white energy. Kanaye brought the blade perpendicular to his right side.

"Bite him to death, Ankoku!"

OoOoO

Scowling profusely, Ichigo deflected another half-hearted blow from his adversary's sword and countered with an unenthusiastic stab. This indifferent swordplay had been going on ever since the pair had engaged one another in battle and it was getting tiresome. The carrot-topped shinigami had the sinking feeling that the stoic intruder was acting as a diversion for something – or someone – else. That thought did not sit well, and the Captain decided that the time for gauging his opponent's strength was over.

Captain Kurosaki grit his teeth and disappeared using Tensa Zangetsu's incredible speed. Within milliseconds, he reappeared over his thin rival, black blade glowing with power.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

The black arc obliterated the ground beneath it's wielder's body, enveloping the stranger in its embrace. "There, that should have done some da…"

"Luce."

A beam of violet light burst forth from the cloud of dust caused by Ichigo's attack, creating a scream of ripping air. "Shit!" Ichigo had barely enough time to flash out of the way of the radiant beam, and even so the edge of his left shoulder caught a glancing blow from the blast. This was certainly a surprise. If Ichigo hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he might have thought it was a Cero. The reiatsu was decidedly Hollowfied and the raw force of the beam was all too similar to Cero. But there was something different about it: it was faster, thinner, and just a touch more painful.

Dust and dirt fell back to earth and the calm, unfazed stranger stood perfectly unharmed. His white hair danced with the wind, and in that moment he appeared absolutely ghostly.

"You will have to do better than that to defeat Aimone Sinagra, Captain Kurosaki," the newcomer said in his deep baritone.

Another surprise. This man new of the Captains of Soul Society. This was much worse than Ichigo first believed. The corners of Aimone's mouth twitched upward a bit, as if he were attempting to remember how to smile, but they dropped soon after. He raised his sword arm and leveled the point at Ichigo's heart.

"Speak, Cuore."

Suddenly, Aimone shrieked in pain and his body convulsed, twitching back and forth as though he were a rag doll. Then, from the center of his chest, blood and bone white gel burst forth and enveloped him in a swirling sphere of the same materials.

Ichigo watched helplessly, waiting and wondering what this _thing_ was doing to itself. He did not want to attack the cocoon for fear of being sucked in or having his own attack reflected back at him. This wasn't the place he wanted to die in.

With that thought, Ichigo noticed that the swirling mass was rippling, and he raised his sword in a defensive position with two hands. The gelatinous sphere began to take form, condensing to the size of Aimone. A bony helmet in the shape of a British medieval warrior's armor solidified with a thin slot where the man's eyes would be. Four holes appeared in each thin shoulder, each one the size of a large caliber bullet. Other than that, Aimone's new suit of pristine white armor seemed rather unimpressive and, just for a moment, Ichigo thought his perceptions about this intruder to be unmerited.

Suddenly, a shimmering array of light burst from the holes in his opponent's shoulders and Ichigo leapt away to avoid conact. He needn't have worried, for the light simply traced lines in the space immediately surrounding its wielder.

"What would you do, Captain, if you had to do battle with those you cared for most?" Aimone's voice rang clearly. The redhead scowled harder and tightened his grip. "I despise my power. It is far too…evasive. I would be much more content if it followed a straightforward route, but such is the way things are."

Ichigo growled back at his opponent. He had a feeling he knew where the sinister Aimone was going with this. "You use illusions don't you?" No answer. "Well too bad cause I'm no stranger to beating zanpakuto like that."

"Hm. I think you misunderstand. My power is not of the illusory sort." As the stranger spoke, the lights erupting from his armor settled into an orderly horizontal movement and expanded into human shapes. "No, it is thankfully more straightforward than that. I am able to record and duplicate souls according to the memories of my opponents." What was once a mere outline of a person solidified into an actual human being.

"Hello, Ichigo…"


	4. The Black That Masks the Fall

**A/N: So here's the tie up to this whole battle thing. Couldn't decide quite what to do with it, so I tried to work it as well as possible. **

Orihime and Rukia valiantly swung their swords at the endless waves of decaying Assente, cutting down corpse after corpse. Unfortunately, when one would fall, several more would phase into existence to replace it. The flow of these new enemies was literally maddening, and to make matters worse, the hordes of teeth and claws were forcing the two females towards the battlefield where four incredibly powerful entities were going head to head. Rukia skillfully used a killing swing to chance a look at said battlefield and swore under her breath.

"Damn… If we get caught in that were done for."

Yet the petite shinigami could find no way to burst past the overwhelming wall of Assente and so decided to pray that somehow she and her auburn-haired companion would survive the slaughter they were about to fall into.

OoOoO

The healer's thoughts were along the same lines, although she was a bit more worried about the 3rd Division's Captain and the Thirteenth's 6th Seat. She had seen both of them engage the two humanoids and could only guess that they were leagues above the small fry she was currently slicing through. This was not going to end well.

OoOoO

Enzo had moved a bit too late to dodge Kanaye's killing intent but a bit too early to be lethally injured by it. The wave of reiatsu had been nearly twice the size of the one that the young Soul Reaper had used against the honorable 3rd Division Captain, and could have easily decimated his opponent. Damn that Enzo for moving so quickly.

Kanaye grimaced from the pain of his wounds. He was quite certain that most of his ribs were broken, not to mention the clotting gash in his back and the various smaller injuries he had received over the course of two battles. He couldn't take any more abuse in his state and had so attempted to end the fight in a single blow. Now he had exhausted the last of his available energy and lost sight of the larger man: a lose-lose situation. So it was no surprise when a burst of pain bloomed in Kanaye's abdomen from the impact of a long dart.

Enzo blurred into view several feet away from Kanaye's broken body and the bulky demon laughed as the smaller man slumped to his knees. One bloody hand clung to his zanpakuto and the other gripped the dagger lodged in his stomach.

"HAHA! Ya little punk. I finally stuck you!" A swift kick that sent the shinigami to the dirt. Silver eyes struggled to gaze through matted black hair. "You gave me the run around for a good while. Thought you had me there too. Too bad we Respinto are resilient."

Another stomp to the fallen man's chest. A fountain of blood gushed from his lips. Enzo frowned deeply. "Tch. You're no fun anymore. Take some advice and enjoy your last seconds while you bleed to death." The brute scratched his nose and glanced behind him, at which time a wide grin split his face. "I'm gonna have some fun. Don't go anywhere."

The victor snickered at his own joke and flew off the ground in the direction he had been staring. Kanaye mustered enough strength to look up and lost what breath he had left when he saw the people Enzo was aiming for.

"_**Seems like it's my turn, Boss."**_

OoOoO

"Out of my way!" the bulky intruder roared as he made his way for the petite shinigami and the one with brilliant hair. He tore through several Assente, dropping them where they stood, never showing an ounce of remorse for cutting down his comrades. The two Soul Reapers before his eyes looked like the most delicious he had ever seen, and since his other toy was already broken, he figured that it would be nice to have a mid-battle snack to sate his bloodlust.

He destroyed another Assente and loomed over the smaller of his two prizes. She hadn't noticed him yet and he grinned happily at the thought of literally scaring the woman to death. He reached out a giant paw, stretching out to grab the unsuspecting shinigami, but he was soon interrupted.

"NO!"

A thin beam of orange light careened into Enzo'side, knocking him off balance and ushering a grunt of displeasure from his throat.

"Rukia, move!" Orihime shouted as Tsubaki returned to the six-petaled flower that was the tsuba for Orihime's zanpakuto. There was no need to inform the petite woman, for she had heard Orihime's earlier shout and immediately flashed to a safer position. However, she was quaking from the powerful reiatsu oozing from the recovering demon. This pressure was completely different from Soul Reapers, Hollow, even Vizard. It was dense and raw and entirely evil, as though these invaders were denizens of Hell itself.

With a mighty roar, Enzo released a column of brilliant green light that swirled and thrashed about him like a living creature. He held one of his sharp daggers in each hand and he brandishing them evilly. "You little bitch," he growled at Orihime, "you couldn't butt out. Guess I have to eat you first."

In response, the shinigami tightened her grip on her zanpakuto and slipped into a defensive stance. But it was no use. Enzo leapt at her and rammed his daggers into her sword. Metal clanged on metal, and though her blade was substantially larger than her opponent's, the force with which he slammed into her guard turned her arms to jelly. Rukia watched helplessly as she tried to slice through hordes of Assente, but the mindless beings congregated in numbers that her shikai could not thin. So Orihime was left to fend for herself, and that was not a good thing. Enzo swung with his weapon again and this time, Orihime was unable to keep her footing and fell to the ground, her zanpakuto skidding out of her reach.

For the first time in a long time she felt like a helpless little girl and it was all she could do to keep the tears from spilling over. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to leave her family again. She didn't want to be taken again.

"Ha. Time for a snack." Enzo pulled his dart back and lunged forward, aiming for her heart. Orihime closed her eyes and prayed for something – anything – to save her. _Clang._

"Wha-?"

She cracked her eyes and gasped when she saw a head of black hair and a lean, unclothed torso casting a shadow over her. In her savior's hand was a gleaming silver sword held point down and blocking the tip of the dart precariously on the cutting edge. That blade was effectively blocking the killing blow of a very surprised Enzo Esposito. The mysterious man turned his head to look over his shoulder and Orihime's eyes widened with shock. Covering the right half of his face was a black mask resembling the face of a wolf. Three grizzly golden stripes reminiscent of claw marks ran vertically from the top to the bottom of the mask, missing only the eye socket and grinning fangs. But the most shocking thing was his eye. The sclera was pitch black and the iris was shimmering red.

"_**Hi, Princess. The Boss didn't want you to die, so I suggest that you get the hell out of here while you can."**_ He turned back to Enzo, who by that time had jumped away and was glaring, puzzled, at his opponent: a revived Kanaye Ronin. The masked man deftly flipped his weapon so that the tip was now facing the demon. He grinned maniacally as the black material that composed his mask ever so slowly encroached upon the rest of his face. _**"'Cause once I get started, I'm not stopping until this guy is a shit stain on the ground."**_

OoOoO

Meanwhile, Ichigo crashed to the ground, blood streaming like so much water from a massive wound starting at the juncture of his left shoulder and spanning the length of his torso. A perfect vision of Senna, the sweet girl - who wasn't really a girl at all - who had only ever wanted to live as a normal person, knelt beside his head and smiled happily as she swept a speck of his blood from his mouth with her finger. She examined the liquid curiously before licking it and shivering with delight. It was all Ichigo could do to keep his eyes open as blood pooled under him and this _thing_ devoured his life.

"Oh, Ichigo, your soul is delicious!" she crowed, bouncing up and twirling like a schoolgirl. Aimone watched stoically, never moving even as his creation crooned over the taste of his opponent's blood.

"Not yet," the armored intruder said when the false Senna made a move to break her conquest's neck. "Lord Victor ordered that the guardians be kept alive lest out plan be foiled."

Senna looked confused for a split second, quickly recovered, and bounded over to stand beside her master. The young Captain Kurosaki gasped as, with great effort, he pulled himself into an awkward lying position. He glared hatefully at the thin man and spat a glob of blood in that direction. "How could you, you bastard? How could you defile her memory like this?"

No answer. Instead, Aimone turned his head as if he had heard something, then began to float towards the shimmering doorway he had first entered through, a happy Senna clone following close behind.

"My apologies, Captain. As I said, I would prefer my attacks to be more direct, but psychological warfare is just as good at getting the job done." Aimone halted his assent for a moment and spoke over his shoulder, "Regretfully, my creations exist until they are destroyed. I am afraid you will be seeing much more of your old friend."

As Aimone floated away, Ichigo Kurosaki released a sorrowful roar.

OoOoO

"'_**Cause once I get started, I'm not stopping until this guy is a shit stain on the ground."**_

Enzo didn't know how this had happened. He had stomped the life out of the little Soul Reaper himself. And now the boy was back, brandishing his sword as though he had never been injured to begin with, and wearing a mask with colors inverted from a normal Hollow's. Together, all of these things naturally confused him, but they also made him very, incredibly angry. With a great roar, he stomped the ground and sent out a wave of reiatsu.

"I don't know HOW you came back to life you puny shit! But you can bet that I'm gonna crush your-"

"Enzo! Our objective is complete. Leave the garbage alone."

Enzo glanced upward to see that his companion was stationed next to their entrance and huffed angrily. He drew back and snarled.

"_**Oh?"**_ Kanaye snickered as he tilted his head. _**"Mommy's calling, little Enzy. Better go before you get in trouble. HAHAHA!"**_ The masked shinigami's howling laughter irked Enzo, but the larger man contained himself and leaped into the air. Aimone stepped through the doorway, but Enzo paused before making his exit.

"Next time, you crazy asshole. Next time, I'm gonna rip your head off."

As soon as Enzo stepped through, the doorway disappeared and the remaining Assente shimmered and dissolved. The shinigami who were fighting breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately began taking stock of the situation.

Kanaye – or whoever he was – sheathed his blade, the scabbard appearing on his back held in place by a silver-linked bandolier chain. He swiftly appeared at Orihime's side, extending a hand and chuckling at her cautious expression. _**"Come on, Princess. Tasty as you look, you don't think I'd go ta all that trouble to save ya and then just turn on you. Do you?"**_

At that, she relaxed a bit and accepted his help, stumbling to her feet and mumbling her thanks.

"_**Well just because the Boss is a pussy doesn't mean that I'm gonna sit around and watch you die. Speaking of the Boss, I don't think he'd appreciate it very much if anyone found out that he let me out to play."**_

"And who is 'the Boss' you keep talking about."

Kanaye looked to his right, where Rukia had appeared and was frowning profusely. She was obviously trying to decide whether this thing was friendly or not. She knew what he was, but didn't know what to make of him. Kanaye laughed again.

"_**Who do you think, midget?"**_ Rukia fumed upon hearing that. _**"Point is, don' t tell anybody I was here. You never saw me."**_

Before either woman could ask another question or interject, the Ronin warrior flashed away, leaving the both of them confused, but willing to keep quiet until they gathered more information about their new ally.

**A/N: Oh dear. Kanaye has a mask and Ichigo was beaten by a girl. Intriguing. Read and review, let me know how you liked it and all that. **


	5. Crossover

Ichigo lay on one of many occupied cots within the walls of the 4th Squad's barracks. Captain Unohana had seen to him personally when Ichigo insisted that Orihime tend to the countless other injured combatants. The older Captain had smiled gently upon him during her work while the younger swam in the murk of his memories. He knew that he was sulking – his depression was doing nothing to help his comrades. But the orange-haired Soul Reaper was still attempting to comprehend his loss.

That hellish copy of Senna had defeated him within seconds. Tensa Zangetsu might as well have been a wooden stick as the perky golden-eyed clone struck him down with the tempered blade of her hand. His eyes darkened and furrowed as he remembered how very _real_ she had been. Her reiatsu was the same, her physical form perfect down to the creases at the corners of her eyes. She _was_ Senna. And yet she wasn't.

"_I am able to record and duplicate souls according to the memories of my opponents."_

That's what Aimone said. Ichigo couldn't help but realize how right the powerful demon had been. That creature was an exact, perfect replica of Senna's soul. "Nobody should have that kind of power," Ichigo mumbled sadly to himself.

"Ichigo?"

Young Kurosaki turned his head to the right, his injuries hindering him even with his Hollow reiatsu reinforcing his body. There stood Rukia, clutching a fist to her chest and worrying the edge of her shihakusho with the other hand. She looked fine, physically at least. The petite shinigami managed to escape any major wounds, so why did she look so sick.

"Rukia? What's wrong?"

His eyes softened when she perched on the edge of his cot and tenderly fingered the bandages on his torso. He watched curiously as her brow suddenly creased then just as quickly morphed back to the infamous Kuchiki line of neutrality. She withdrew her hand and shook her head. "It's nothing. Captain Ukitake sent me to get you. Commander Yamamoto has called for all able Captains and Lieutenants to attend an emergency meeting. "

Ichigo nodded and pulled himself up and off of the stiff cot, motioning for Rukia to follow him to the 1st Squad's meeting hall. What he didn't see as he strode away was Rukia smiling sadly at his back.

OoOoO

"Silence!"

The Commander's order echoed through the hall, effectively quieting the assembled Captains.

"As a first order of business, I have instated Kanaye Ronin as the Captain of the 5th Squad due to his exemplary performance in battling a opponent of particular skill."

Indeed, Kanaye occupied a previously empty postition wearing the sleeveless white haori befitting a Captain, the inner lining a mottled crimson. Shuuhei Hisagi stood stiffly at his side, glancing at him every now and then as if trying to read his character. Soi Fon and Komamura glared heavily at him, obviously diapproving of the Commander's decision.

Orihime and Rukia shared a worried look. His reiatsu had returned to that of an unseated shinigami and he looked as though he was exerting no effort to keep it so well hidden.

"Secondly, and more importantly, we must discuss the unfortunate situation that has befallen Soul Society today."

That generated a stir among the Captains, only Zaraki unfazed and rather gleeful at the prospect of powerful opponents.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, if you will."

Mayuri stepped forward and gestured broadly with a clawed hand. The lights dimmed and a fuzzy projection of the two intruders and their crude portal materialized in the center of the hall. The scientist cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"During the earlier incident, I was able to analyze the doorway that our invaders used to traverse the passage between their dimension and ours. The brutes…" he sneered at Ichigo and Kanaye "…fortunately gave me just enough time to examine the energies surrounding the portal."

The projection shifted, the two humanoids dissolving and the portal coming into focus. The field surrounding it phased and warped until the power that encompassed the frame of the doorway became a deep gray.

"This reiatsu is not unlike that of our Arrancar foes, but it is altogether different. I have only encountered this type of power in one specimen: an unfortunate soul that I forcefully extracted from the dimension we call Hell."

Mayuri's grin was nothing short of maniacal as he explained his findings. Even as the occupants of the hall growled and gasped, the doorway disappeared and Aimone and Enzo replaced it.

"I'm sure that we've all heard the stories of the seven truly evil Arrancar that were sent to Hell. These two are members of that elite segment. Aimone Sinagra and Enzo Esposito; the very beings of myth."

The Captains were all but panicking at that point, several of the more outspoken ones openly disputing Mayuri's claims. A sharp tap from the Commander's cane restored order to the conference, the 12th Squad Captain stepping back, still holding a suppressed smirk behind his hellish makeup.

"The evidence that we have obtained from this analysis confirms Captain Kurotsuchi's assertion. Therefore, I will shortly be assembling a team of our finest warriors to embark on a mission to ascertain the intentions of these fallen Arrancar," the Commander growled. His eyes cracked to show his irises. "Make no mistake, this is a critical time for Soul Society. Do not take this news lightly. You will all receive orders soon." Another tap of his cane. "Dismissed!"

OoOoO

After briefly speaking to Chad following the meeting, Ichigo promptly returned to his quarters and retreated to his mind in order to speak with Zangetsu. The wise old zanpakuto had been pulling at Ichigo's consciousness throughout the meeting, an occurrence that was quite rare. As such, Ichigo found it practical to converse with his partner upon the first opportunity.

The shinigami landed lightly on the side of a skyscraper, Zangetsu standing stoically upon his perch to greet him. "Hello, Ichigo."

Zangetsu's deep, gravelly voice was a welcome sound and the Captain of the 3rd Squad turned up the corners of his mouth. "So what was it that you were so worried that I needed to come in here. _He's_ not stirring up trouble again is he?"

A shake of the head and then Zangetu nodded to a space behind Ichigo. The shinigami turned and immediately recoiled when he saw a ghostly white version of none other than the newly christened 5th Squad Captain grinning widely at him from several yards away.

"He appeared not long after you fought Sinagra. He does not actually exist here; he is merely a projection from another's soul, but it worries me that someone was able to push into your mind so easily," Zangetsu breathed. His ever observant gaze never left the corporeal, inverted Kanaye even as the intruder cackled loudly and lazily began circling Ichigo. "He can't cause any permanent damage, but I'm afraid that I cannot expel him by force."

"Wait, what do you mean he can't cause any permanent-" The relatively young Soul Reaper removed his cautious gaze from his visitor for barely a moment, but that was all the time that Kanaye's reflection needed to force the air from Ichigo's lungs. Satisfied that he had caught his host off guard, the pale intruder cackled, then promptly grabbed an airborne Ichigo's collar and handily tossed him across the landscape into the side of another upturned skyscraper.

"_**He means that whatever I do in this shithole will only last as long as I'm here,"**_ the apparition crowed to the cloud of dust that obscured Ichigo's bruised body from view. Sure enough, Ichigo slumped out of the smokescreen, cleaver in hand and looking monumentally aggravated. The orange-haired shinigami leapt at Kanaye's ghost, fully intending to spear him through with the tip of Zangetsu. However, the pale visitor straightened his arm and effectively halted Ichigo's assault with the palm of his hand. _**"Not that I really want to stick around," **_inverted Kanaye sighed, flicking his opponent's blade to the side. _**"Part of me got sucked in here when you and the Boss were dukin' it out. Don't ask me how. Thanks to you I couldn't play as much as I wanted too; didn't have the strength. But I've been getting' pulled back since you two took a breather."**_

By that point, Ichigo was thoroughly confused, torn between tearing into the arrogant prick before him and satisfying his curiosity. The latter impulse won out and Ichigo lowered his weapon. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The imposter chuckled and ran a hand through his mane of white hair. _**"You'll know soon enough…King."**_

With that, the pale Kanaye's body evaporated into mist and Ichigo was left alone with Zangetsu once again.

OoOoO

**A/N: I'm not sure where this is gonna go. Honestly not sure.**


	6. The Descent

**A/N: The story unfolds. I have a basic idea about where this is going now, and I think I'll enjoy writing it.**

Aimone Sinagra and Enzo Esposito knelt in the black sand that composed the majority of their surreal world while another smaller body cowered on its feet between them. That infernal sand was everywhere, in every nook and cranny it could find it spread like a virus. It absorbed all the light that touched it, yet somehow released a glow that cast a dark hue upon everything. Even worse, it was warm to the touch and the only things that kept it from bothering its inhabitants were the black shoes upon their feet and the black fabric upon their legs. How Aimone hated that sand.

The three Respinto knelt before their grand leader as he sat upon his midnight throne. The throne was the only object in a large, rectangular stone room. There were no pillars or ornamentation of any kind, but the ceiling had been charmed to resemble the midnight sky in all its glory, stars and all. The walls were inky black as well, but they did not emanate light as the sand and the false sky did. Instead, they sucked the light out of the room and gave it the eerie sensation of being cast in a blanket of constant shadow. Aimone and his comrades did not seem fazed by the effect in the slightest, having experienced it countless times before.

"What do you have to report, Sinagra?" the lord growled from his perch. He sat at least ten feet above them, a set of simple stairs serving as the pathway from ground level to the seat of the throne. His booming voice echoed around the room, sounding as though it same from everywhere at once.

Aimone sighed at his lord's theatrics, but answered nonetheless. "We successfully distracted the Soul Society's warriors while Icaro," he motioned to the small boy between himself and Enzo's large frame, "retrieved the artifact from its resting place. It will likely be days before the Commander notices its absence."

Enzo remained uncharacteristically silent through his compatriot's report, chancing a glance upward at his leader. As always, his body from the waist up was concealed by the artificial shadow created by the material of the walls. All Enzo could see of the imperious demon was his hands and feet, all of them bare, tan and scarred and larger than his own. Tattered black robes not unlike a shinigami's shihakusho covered every other visible part of his body. Enzo felt his lord's attention shift to him and he immediately averted his gaze.

"Is there anything else, Esposito?"

The large Esposito grit his teeth and thought back to the shinigami that he was certain he had squashed, but who had somehow managed to defy death. "Nothing, my lord," he barked.

The massive demon growled again and gripped the arms of his throne. "Take the artifact to the temple and gather your brethren. It is time for the next step."

Aimone bowed his head lower. "Yes, Lord Victor."

OoOoO

Opening the gates of Hell was not as easy a task as Commander Yamamoto made it sound. It had been ten days since the Assente had invaded the Seireitei and nine since the last Captain's meeting. During that time, the full strength of the Kido Corps had been employed. Spells were done and undone, one complex incantation completed only for another to begin. Without a sinful soul to purify and open the gates with, the Soul Soceity was left with only the option to perform the Descension Ceremony. Hell was sealed up for a reason, and it made sense that the solitary method of accessing it was long, difficult, and frustrating.

That said, Ichigo knew that it was almost time for those massive gates to open. Truthfully, he was terrified of what he might find on the other side. He, Renji, and Kanaye had been selected for the journey into the depths of hell. Initially, the most powerful Kurosaki was reluctant to go along with the plan, curious as to the rationality of sending in three Captains – arguably the three most barbaric Captains after Kenpachi at the disposal of Soul Society at that. However, after explaining that the beings that resided in Hell were powerful in the rawest sort of way and that only those with clear, combat-focused minds could overpower them effectively, Yamamoto convinced him to tag along.

"I still don't understand why we're doing this," Renji moaned as he sipped his sake. He had come to the Third Squad barracks with Chad, Uryuu, Rukia, and Orihime. They were having one last drink before the gates were to be opened that night, but none of them were very cheery.

Ichigo shrugged at his red-haired friend. "I still don't completely understand it myself."

"I mean, don't you think that we should be staying away from the crazy fucks that tried to kill us?"

"Renji! Language!" Rukia scolded, accompanying her words with a sharp blow to Renji's gut.

"Ow! Dammit, Rukia, you would think a hundred years and a couple inches would have taken away that midget complex."

Another fist to his stomach. "Stop calling me a midget! I'm almost as tall as Orihime now, idiot!"

The exchange was enough to pull a giggle from Orihime's lips and even Ichigo curved his lips in a crooked half smile. Still, the mood was hardly lighter than it had been moments ago. Soon enough the pair finished their scuffle (Rukia emerging victorious of course) and went back to their sake. Nobody said anything after that.

Ichigo sighed and closed his eyes as he laid back onto the floor. He had a very bad feeling about his latest assignment, not that he would ever admit that he agreed with Renji.

OoOoO

The three Captains lined up in front of the area designated for the gate's materialization. Ichigo and Renji had said their piece to their friends, who were standing behind them about fifty yards back. Rukia and Orihime looked monumentally worried, unpleased with the entire situation. Chad was stoic as always and Uryuu had found it in his heart to look mildly concerned. Ichigo glanced to his right at Kanaye, then left to Renji. Both of them were wearing near identical scowls, and Ichigo couldn't blame them.

From a space to the left of the designated area, Commander Yamamoto and Captain Unohana surveyed their reconnaissance team. "Captain Abarai, Captain Kurosaki, Captain Ronin, are you prepared to enter Hell's gate?" Yamamoto roared.

In unison, the three Captains chimed, "Yes, Commander."

The grizzled old general gave a nod and the Kido Corps began the final incantation, their voices combining and rising with every syllable. As they chanted, the large cleared circle of dirt began to glow black and the soil around it looked as though it was being superheated. The level of reiatsu in the air continued to grow until most of the Kido Corps was struggling to stand. Still, they fought against the monstrous pressure and pressed on to finish the incantation. Then, before anyone was able to see it, Ichigo felt it.

At first, it was just a tingle in his fingertips. Then it was his entire body, as though something was calling out to him and his soul was screaming to be united with that force. Suddenly, the huge gates exploded out of the ground and the less powerful members of the Kido Corps finally collapsed. As all present stared at the skeletons embedded in those ominous red doors, they couldn't stop the wave of violent power that rushed through them. It was raw and angry and like nothing any of them, save perhaps for the Commander, had ever felt. It was generally unpleasant all around. Then the worst part came.

The skeletons' skulls shimmered and the jaws of both worked in stereo. **"Those who enter my domain will stay with me until the end of days. Armageddon is upon you."**

With that, the gates of Hell burst open and a current of wind propelled all those in the direct path of the doors through the portal. As Ichigo twirled in midair, he watched in horror as Rukia, Chad, Uryuu, and Orihime were picked up and flung, along with the three Captains, into the Hellgate.

The doors slammed before any of the spectators had a chance to react. And just like that, the gates of Hell disappeared, sucked back into the hole of black energy that they sprang from. The Commander looked every bit of his two thousand years all of a sudden. "What have we done?" he whispered.


	7. Grind

**A/N: Thanks to the readers and to the people who put this story on alert. That means a lot.**

_Well, fuck._ For the first time since this whole assignment was strung together, Ichigo really questioned the logic of the thing. The infamous shinigami wasn't unintelligent by any stretch of the imagination, but he failed to see where the rationale lied in inserting three horribly combative Captains into the heart of enemy territory with next to no information about their opponents. Even worse, he had not realized the vagueness of the mission brief that the old Commander gave them. Hell, Renji's primal survival instinct kicked in before Ichigo was able to observe the true conspicuousness of the situation. But the very worst part was that, aside from the three pre-designated Captains, innocent bystanders were pulled through the gate because of shoddy preparation on everyone's part.

The Captain of the Third Division groaned as he straightened his body and adjusted Zangetsu's bandolier. After the doors closed behind them, the various shinigami were separated within the abyss that was the gate and Ichigo was ultimately deposited upon a hill of inky black sand. He brushed a few bits of the sand from his shihakusho and began a preliminary evaluation.

"Alright, so… There are four extra innocent people here, I have no idea where they are, and the only thing I can see is black sand and a sky that keeps moving from black to red."

Ichigo huffed and scowled harder than he ever had in his life. "Fucking great."

OoOoO

Renji, though just as angry as his orange-haired comrade, was faring slightly better. He had the fortune of being ejected near a structure of some sort, and with Rukia and Chad to boot. At the very least he had some companionship, not that he knew where he was supposed to go or if the rest of his party was alive. The only vague order the Commander had given was to "search for any persons of importance and any apparent source of energy or reiatsu."

"Chad, Rukia, are you two OK?" Renji called over his shoulder. He spared a glance behind him to see Chad giving a thumbs up and Rukia adjusting her zanpakuto on her hip. The eldest Reaper nodded once and turned his attention to the building nearby. He judged it to be about a thousand yards away (if it was indeed as large as it appeared). There were no less than six stories, but the building was decidedly simple. It looked like someone had dropped a giant rectangular cardboard box in the middle of this midnight desert. Unlike that sand surrounding it, the building was of tan stone and, from Renji's distance, it looked as though the entire structure was constructed as one piece. There were no visible seams or cracks anywhere along the face.

"Is that where we're going?" Chad asked quietly, now stationed dutifully next to the Captain. Rukia stepped to Renji's other side, hands on her hips.

Renji thought for a moment, weighing the options before making his decision.

"Yeah. If the others are close, they'll be heading there, too. That tower is our best bet to find everyone."

Rukia nodded in agreement and followed along after her childhood friend as he started for the building.

OoOoO

As it happened, Kanaye, Uryuu, and Orihime had landed together within viewing distance of the very same tower, but Uryuu was in a bad way. He had crashed quite unceremoniously on his head and was suffering from a concussion. Orihime of course put her zanpakuto to work right away and the glowing orange shield was working its magic. While Uryuu cradled his head and let the little fairies heal him, the fairies' master watched Kanaye out of the corner of her eye. She was still a bit suspicious of him, wary because of her encounter with his alternate persona, but had refrained from telling anyone about the incident. Additionally, she attempted several times immediately afterward to speak to him about it, but he skillfully avoided her each time.

The dark-haired shinigami knelt in the sand and ran a hand through it, pulling a handful away from the rest of the mass. As it flowed out of his palm, he frowned. "It's hot."

He stood and surveyed the horizon, instantly spotting the tower over four miles away. "Lieutenant Inoue, when you're finished healing Ishida we're going to head for that building."

The healer nodded and gave the newly appointed Captain a smile that he could not see since his back was turned to her. "Please, Captain, call me Orihime."

Kanaye turned and looked at the girl curiously, noted her bright smile and released a tiny smirk of his own. "Well, Orihime, I am very sorry you got dragged into this with us. We never meant for this to happen."

However, Orihime was no longer listening. Instead, she was staring with shock over his shoulder, her entire body shaking. She let out a choked sob as Kanaye rounded to see what was wrong.

OoOoO

Ichigo had been walking for quite a while now, and nothing of interest had come into sight. Every time he thought the black sand was going to give way to a patch of color, it turned out to be just a patch of sky. Still, he trudged along diligently, left to his thoughts, trying to figure out what the point of the mission was and – though he was loath to admit it – worrying about Rukia.

He had no idea where she was, if she was alive, if she was in one piece even. The fact of the matter was that he was terrified. Out of everybody who was flung into the gate, she was the weakest. Not by a large margin, but the weakest nonetheless. He had no clue what kind of monsters…actually he had an idea. The powerful Captain shuddered at the thought of that vile imitation of Senna. If there were things like that in this place, Ichigo certainly didn't want Rukia to wander around the wasteland alone. The best he could hope for was that Renji was with her. At least then Ichigo would feel safe knowing that the pineapple would die for her.

Suddenly, Ichigo stepped onto solid ground. He was so surprised that he nearly leapt back. He hadn't been paying attention to his path and was truly stunned to be walking on stone. A look around revealed that the area he was standing on was about one hundred yards in diamter, an octagonal space of tan stone that broke the monotony of the sand. The area was heavily pitted, as though hundred of battles had taken place there, and Ichigo got the eerie feeling that this place was an arena of sorts. He glanced toward the middle of the showground to see a short pedestal and sitting on it a man in a modern black suit. And a shock of pale blue hair atop his head.

"No."

Ichigo shook with barely contained rage, fighting the impulse to shunpo and take the bastard's head off. The man hopped off his seat and began a slow, taunting stroll towards Ichigo. His hands were lodged firmly in the pockets of his pants and the jacket of his suit was wide open, no shirt underneath, showing an expanse of muscle with a scar centered on his chest, but no hole where his heart should be. His black lace-ups clicked on the tan stone, and he came to a halt less than twenty yards away from Ichigo. That feral grin hadn't changed, the cocky stance hadn't changed, only the absence of the white Hollow jawbone was a marked difference. If anything, the lack of that last remnant of his Hollowdom made him look more like the destruction he embodied.

"Long time, no see Soul Reaper."

"Why are you here, Grimmjow?" Ichigo growled under his breath. The keen former Arrancar grinned wider and waved a nonchalant hand.

"You sent me here. Remember?"

Ichigo blinked. That statement didn't make any sense. "Zanpakuto purify Hollow, they recycle their souls. Besides, when I beat you the Gates didn't open."

Grimmjow's grin disappeared at that and he growled. Ichigo was surprised. Clearly that was not an acceptable response.

"The Gate doesn't have to open for a soul to be sent to Hell," Grimmjow spat. He removed his hands from his pockets and ran one through his shocking hair. Somehow he seemed calmer than he used to be. He hadn't leapt straight into battle. He hadn't tried to disembowel Ichigo. In fact, he seemed more than willing to talk.

"Do you know what happens when a soul is destroyed, Soul Reaper?" the blue-haired man asked."

Ichigo frowned. "Either it gets sent back to Soul –"

"Not purified, you idiot!" Grimmjow yelled, his hands clenched into fists. "Destroyed! Utterly fucking annihilated without any way to piece it back together!"

Ichigo remained silent.

"Ever noticed that the sand in Hueco Mundo is white?" Grimmjow began again after pacing and abating his anger. "That's because it's made of tiny shards of billions of Hollows' masks. Millennia and millennia of death. That's why the sand there is white."

Grimmjow paused to observe the effect of his story. To his credit, Ichigo seemed only slightly fazed, but he was completely unnerved by the current situation. One of his greatest enemies was alive and well, standing before him and conducting a fairly civil conversation.

Upon realizing that the shinigami wasn't going to speak, Grimmjow continued. "Why then do you think the sand here is black? It's the accumulation of every obliterated soul. Every soul that was forcibly ripped to pieces has been added to this sand. That's also why its so hot and why it gives off this crazy glow." He snarled the last part as if truly annoyed him.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Ichigo was now beyond confused. He had almost forgotten that his old nemesis was reborn, unnerved by the new information he was receiving.

The older soul chuckled a bit and swung his arm in a grand arc. A sword that Ichigo recognized as his opponent's zanpakuto shimmered to life in his hand. The shinigami's body followed his century of training and subconsciously removed Zangetsu from its resting place. Grimmjow grinned his infamous grin and slipped easily into a combat stance.

"You destroyed me."

Ichigo barely blocked the first strike, so fast had Grimmjow moved. The technique he had used was undoubtedly sonido, but Ichigo hadn't perceived the tiniest movement. It had been decades since anyone was able to move quickly enough to completely evade Ichigo's observant eye, but this was different. As Grimmjow hacked and slashed at his foe's giant cleaver, Ichigo noted with utmost concern that Grimmjow was much, much stronger than he had been all those years ago. He was faster, stronger, more fluid in his movements and possessed a more calculating gaze. He was calmer and angrier, and all of those things together produced an aura of complete and total danger.

Not that Ichigo hadn't gotten stronger, the Captain reminded himself – now was not the time to lose his grip on reality. But whereas before the blue-haired Arrancar had been a walking wrecking ball, he was now more like a raging typhoon confined within the body of a man. Every little twitch was precisely controlled and all of his power was directed into his strike instead of it into the movement it took to create the swing. This was bad.

Grimmjow finally broke Ichigo's defense and he landed a crushing blow with his fist to Ichigo's temple. The Captain flew and crashed at one edge of the arena they were fighting in. "Is that really as good as you are after a hundred fuckin' years of fighting?" Grimmjow roared as Ichigo stumbled to his feet.

The Captain of the Third Division wiped the blood from his brow and brandished his massive sword as his old enemy. Determination shone in his piercing amber eyes and Zangetsu screamed with unreleased energy. A dense wall of spiritual energy descended upon the battlefield. This would be no different than before, Ichigo decided. Later he would figure out why someone he had killed was alive again. Now was what was important. He would fight, he would win, and he would go find everyone. Simple as that. Grimmjow was right, he had developed his skills over the last century and he was determined to prove it.

"Not even close, Arrancar."


	8. The Dead Rise

**A/N: So the next two or three chapters will be wrapping up the fighting and getting to the adventure. I gotta say that I love writing these fight sequences, but it's tiring trying to come up with stuff. That said, I love bankais and Hollows and whatnot. So, here it is.**

**OoOoO**

Kanaye faced the newcomer with unease, every cell in his body screaming either to run or to tear the guy to shreds. There was nothing particularly remarkable about him. He was of slightly less than average height, he had saggy black hair that reached to his thin shoulders. He was clothed in black slacks and a black polo that clung to his slight frame. The only things that separated him from the rest of the dreary landscape were his bored green eyes, his monstrous reiatsu, and his stance. Back ramrod straight, arms relaxed, hands in his pockets. He looked as though he thought himself superior to everything around him. Other than that, he looked basically harmless.

Still, the Captain of the Fifth Division was no stranger to diversionary tactics. He had fooled the Gotei Thirteen into overlooking his talents for years, so there was no reason that this man shouldn't have something hidden up his sleeve. Certainly, something about this small, stoic stranger didn't sit right in Kanaye's stomach. He had seen Orihime's reaction to him just before Uryuu sat up and moved them to a safer distance. What was he capable of that had terrified the gentle healer.

"You're weaker than I thought you would be," he said suddenly. He said it quietly, to himself, but Kanaye heard him all the same.

"And what do you mean by that?" the dark-haired Captain questioned, hoping to stall a fight. There was no telling what power this green-eyed monster could unleash. Unfortunately for him, the slight man removed one hand from his slacks and conjured a ball of pale green energy. The energy shifted as he closed his hand, and his finally closed his fingers around the hilt of a sword.

"Still," the emotionless foe said, louder this time, "Lord Victor ordered me to take no chances, so I will incinerate you here, like the trash you are." He pointed his sword at Kanaye. "My name is Ulquiorra Cifer. It is the last you shall ever hear." 

Kanaye growled and drew Ankoku from its sheath.

"Bind, Murcielago."

OoOoO

"Too slow!" Grimmjow crowed triumphantly, swatting Zangetsu aside and burying his leg into Ichigo's side.

This was not going well for the shinigami. Both parties had managed to land some choice blows with swords and limbs, but Grimmjow had done far more damage. Strong as Ichigo was, and as loath as he was to admit it, Grimmjow was stronger. He hit harder. He swung faster. Even with a century of training and Zangetsu's nearly unlimited power behind him, Ichigo couldn't seem to do any lasting damage. This was terribly wrong.

True, he no longer held the transcendent power granted to him through the Final Getsuga Tenshou. But after regaining his powers he made certain that he was stronger than he had ever been. And he had gotten stronger still when his soul was permanently released from its human body. He had beaten every Captain in Soul Society, save for Yamamoto, yet he was sorely lacking in this battle. What had happened? What gave Grimmjow such enormous strength?

The former Arrancar was bouncing on the balls of his feet, patiently waiting for his opponent to right himself. As Ichigo stood, he couldn't stop the question that rushed from his lips.

"How?"

Grimmjow stopped moving.

"How what?"

"How are you doing this?"

Grimmjow frowned and swiped the air with his blade.

"You destroyed me."

"You already said that!" Ichigo yelled. Zangetsu's tip was buried in the sand, the length of the great blade acting as a crutch for Ichigo's battered body. "What the hell does that have to do with anything! How did you get this power?"

Grimmjow sighed and scratched uncomfortably at the spot where his Espada identifier used to be. He'd never admit it to anyone, but he missed that tattoo.

"I'm not proud of it, but the guy that runs this desert gave me an offer that I couldn't pass up." He stretched like the panther he was. "When what was left of my soul was sent here, he found me, told me that I could have a chance at revenge. Said he'd put me back together better than before and all I had to do was stop anyone that came my way. Like he knew that you'd be coming for him or something."

Ichigo straightened up and brandished his zanpakuto once again. He knew now. He knew the source of his opponent's power, and he knew what he needed to do to beat him.

"Honestly, I don't care for that guy. I swore that I would never bow to anyone after that bastard Aizen. I was supposed to be the king! But when he hinted at you, well…here we are."

That was enough for Ichigo. The time for talk was over. His blue reiatsu pulsed and climbed into the air, gradually turning black from its roots upward. Grimmjow grinned and clawed at the blade of his zanpakuto.

"Bankai."

"Grind, Pantera."

The two were at it again. Flashes of black steel clashed with bursts of white armor. Occasionally, a black Getsuga Tenshou would crash into the sand below, a vain attempt to catch Grimmjow in a wave of killing energy. Ichigo had a slight edge now with the help of Tensa Zangetsu's speed and he used it to full effect. He was landing more and stronger strikes now, but Grimmjow was still outdoing him. That was fine, though, as long as the Captain was able to prevent a crippling blow. He just needed a little more time to store his power.

OoOoO

Orihime nearly screamed as Ulquiorra – in his fully released Resurrecion – sent Kanaye flying into another mound of black sand. This was a nightmare, it had to be. There was no way that **he** was alive. He had to be dead, he had to be. She had seen his body disintegrate. And though she had felt a twinge of remorse for the heartless Arrancar, she was secretly thrilled that her personal slave driver was gone forever. She had felt bad for thinking that at the time, for she never wished for anyone to be hurt regardless of allegiance, but at the same time a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Now, seeing that eerily calm face again brought the weight back in full force. All of the memories – Loly and Menoly torturing her, Aizen freely eyeing her body, Ulquiorra's morbid fascination with tearing open her chest to find her heart – assaulted her mind.

Every time Ulquiorra clashed with Kanaye's sword she felt Loly's fists. Every time Kanaye bled she saw Aizen's smirking eyes. Every time Ulquiorra threw Kanaye like a rag doll, she felt the Arrancar's deathly cold touch.

And when Ulquiorra stomped on his chest and Orihime saw the blood fly from his lips, she couldn't take it anymore.

"STOOOOOP!"

OoOoO

Ulquiorra heard the scream. It was music to his ears, a noise he hadn't heard since his previous death. Despite himself, he looked towards her and seethed at her state. She needed to learn some respect. She needed to learn not to interfere with others' battles. He glanced at the Captain under his foot. He was bleeding profusely, though he clung to his zanpakuto valiantly. This trash would pose no threat. Slowly, deliberately, he removed his clawed appendage from Kanaye's chest and started for Orihime and Uryuu. To his satisfaction, both were frozen by the level of reiatsu in the air. They would be easy pickings. He flexed his wings menacingly and began charging a Cero in his right hand. Until he felt a terrible wave of reiatsu wash over him. He whirled around to face the opponent thought incapacitated and nearly grimaced when he saw the fool standing.

He was obviously in pain, but he was standing anyway, brandishing his blade defiantly. "Trash should learn when to accept the small mercies of the ones who control its life." Ulquiorra ground out. This insignificant bug should not have defied him. Now he would die twice as painfully.

Kanaye, however, ignored him. "I might not be able to beat you as I am. I can tell that you outmatch me." He flinched as his wounds pulsed. "But, believe me when I say that I will kill you."

Before Ulquiorra could respond, Kanaye flung his arm backwards, the wave of reiatsu exploding from Ankoku creating a wall of inky black sand behind him. "Bankai."

The zanpakuto in his right hand slowly turned to ash, blending in with the cyclone of black particles swirling around his body. His reaitsu rocketed to terrible proportions, threatening to crush the mountains of sand beneath him. Particles of his decomposed sword began to congregate around Kanaye's body, the particles binding to each other and spreading across him. As the dark ash combined and multiplied, Kanaye's uniform began to disappear, replaced by an inky black mass of shadowy fire. The black material continued to spread until it covered all but the Captain's head. Now, instead of wearing the flowing shihakusho of the shinigami uniform, Kanaye was garbed in black fire that clung to his form and showed the muscle beneath it. His feet and hands resembled claws, twin rings of orange flame simmered around his wrists. A large, intricate tattoo of what appeared to be an ancient seal glowed the same orange color over his right breast and a tendril of flaming orange ink connected it to an equally elaborate tattoo of a gothic number zero over his right shoulder blade. Once Kanaye's bankai was complete, the sand that flew about him settled into its proper place. "Lose your temper, Okotteirukage."

Ulquiorra had watched the transformation with little interest and found it acceptable to remain stationary. "I am not impressed," he stated flatly. This new development was not enough to irk him. Bankai or not, the trash before him was merely a shinigami. The former Fourth Espada had defeated a bankai before and he would do so again.

"You don't have to be impressed. All you have to do is die."

OoOoO

Grimmjow was quickly overpowering Ichigo once again. The panther adapted to Ichigo's speed and altered his fighting style accordingly. He had indeed improved his fighting prowess in the last century. His blows were nothing less than explosive and every move was tight and controlled. That was all fine with the Captain of the Third Division, though. He had bought the time he needed to gather his power. It was now or never. He swung Tensa Zangetsu and used the momentum from the resulting clash to spring backwards, away from his opponent. The pair of combatants came to a rest fifty yards from each other as Grimmjow eyes the shinigami warily.

"What are you doing, Soul Reaper? Giving up already?" he taunted, grinning his feral grin.

Ichigo gave a wry smile in reply and relaxed his body. His eyes drooped and took on the empty glaze of a tortured man. He was not happy about what he was about to do and Grimmjow had no idea what he was in for.

"Grimmjow, if you want to hold on to the life that you have, I suggest you leave."

"Ha," Grimmjow barked. "I'm gonna have ta call your bluff on that one."

Ichigo smiled sadly. "Suit yourself."

He reached across his face with his left hand, Grimmjow's face alight with the promise of a better fight. The Soul Reaper was about to draw out his mask, which meant that the shinigami would be at his absolute best. But as Grimmjow gazed on, he noticed that something was different. The amount of reiatsu building in Ichigo's hand was much larger than necessary to call out the Hollow mask that gave him access to his full power. It felt very similar to the level of energy that the Soul Reaper used to call out his bankai.

Ichigo muttered under his breath, "Bankai. Segunda etapa."

He drew his clawed hand downward and the dark, raw reiatsu of his Hollow completely overtook him. As the unholy energy exploded, a horned helmet with red streaks appeared on Ichigo's head. His bright orange hair elongated until it reached his rear. The coat of his bankai grew red fur around the collar and at the wrists and clawed toes ripped apart the wooden sandals of his uniform.

There Ichigo stood in all of his devilish glory. Steam leaked from between the jaws of his mask and Tensa Zangetsu dangled ominously in his clawed hand.

And for the first time in his entire life, Grimmjow was afraid. The thing before him was not shinigami nor Hollow. It was pure animal instinct, driven to protect itself and its pack at all costs. The former Espada was terrified, for even when he was an Adjuchas Hollow, he had been primal but not to the extent that his entire being operated on base instinct. He had always had his wits about him, even through all the pain and fighting. But what Ichigo had just become. That thing was a monster.

Suddenly, Ichigo swung his blade and dropped into a lunge. Then, he let out a blood-curdling roar. _**"KILL!"**_

OoOoO

**A/N: So there. Nothing TOO interesting, but I'm trying to flesh out the extent of these two superpowered captains compared to everyone else. I played with the idea that Kanaye's power is different from everyone's because it manifests as raw energy instead of as a traditional weapon. Next I'll try to incorporate some backstory into what I want Ichigo's power to manifest as. Fun stuff. Read and review please and thank you.**


	9. The King

**A/N: I thought that Ichigo should have a little backstory about where he got access to his full Hollowfication and I liked this idea for it. For brevity's sake I didn't flesh it out quite as much as I would have liked to, but it's pretty cool all the same. Also I just now picked up on a MAJOR mistake that had to do with the guy who is Captain of the ninth. So I'll be re-posting chapter 1 with that information corrected. It's not a huge change but what kind of person would I be if I just let that kind of thing slip by. Enjoy.**

**OoOoO**

_Flashback_

_Ichigo had, upon a request from his zanpakuto, entered his inner sanctum and had been effectively locked inside his own mind for a week. As soon as he had entered, he felt the mental block snap into place. His own sword had trapped him in his head! When Ichigo asked Zangetsu what his problem was, the grizzled old warrior replied that Ichigo's power was unstable. _

"_That's it!" Ichigo yelled, waving his arms frantically. "That's what you locked me in here for? I've been a Soul Reaper for fifty years and I leak reiatsu constantly and you tell me that my power's unstable! No shit!"_

_Zangetsu replied that it was not the shinigami segment of power that was instable. Rather, the __**other**__ segment was that which was causing trouble. Ichigo had gone silent at that news. The last time he battle that psycho Hollow was when he last trained with the Vizards. He won, locked the bastard away, and threw away the key. He thought that was that and he had drawn on the Hollow's strength ever since._

_Sensing Ichigo's confusion, Zangetsu elaborated. "Ichigo, __**He**__ is just as I am. We are two sides of the same coin. Just as I grow stronger when you use my power, so he does as well when you use his."_

_Ichigo's eyes lit up with righteous anger and determination. Somehow he knew this day would come. The day when his instincts would break out of their cage and try to overtake his conscious mind. That was why Zangetsu locked him in here. As long as his consciousness was willingly confined in the land of overturned skyscrapers, it was impossible for the Hollow to take control of his body. However, there was nothing stopping the beast from killing him and breaking Zangetsu's barrier. Speaking of which, where was that psycho? Ichigo voiced his thoughts to his old friend and the zanpakuto closed his eyes and bowed his head. _

"_He has become strong enough to separate from me. I do not know where he is, but I know that he is watching…"  
_

"_**Oh, shut up old fart!"**__ the distorted voice called out from behind Ichigo. _

_The Soul Reaper spun to face his other half and growled when he saw the same horned helmet that stared back at him years ago when he learned the Final Getsuga Tenshou. That mask meant the Hollow was at full power, that he could easily destroy Ichigo. The Captain weighed his options, none of which had desirable outcomes. _

"_**I'll make this simple,"**__ the Hollow snarled. __**"I'm going to kill you, Ichigo. I'm going to take your power and then I'm going to take over the Soul Society. I desire power and you will give it to me!"**_

_Ichigo drew Zangetsu and brandished it at his opponent. Zangetsu himself rested a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We will fight him together." With that the soul of the zanpakuto dissolved into the huge cleaver and the blade instantly shifted into its bankai. The broken chain on the end of the black blade grew and wrapped around Ichigo's arm as a black glove formed and crept to the Captain's elbow. Finally, Zangetsu's tsuba stretched and morphed into the thinner, larger version that came with the increase in power output._

_Ichigo didn't say a word, but felt a small measure of relief knowing that he would be able to use Zangetsu's ultimate form. _

_The Hollow scoffed and lunged.__** "The old man can't save you this time! When I'm finished, I won't even need you to be the horse. You'll just be an afterthought!" **__the deranged Hollow cackled as he struck at Ichigo's defense. _

_The battle that ensued was monstrous at best and apocalyptic at worst. Both the ghostly white monster and the orange-haired shinigami lashed out with every ounce of power and skill that they possessed. Black and white tinged with crimson clashed with each other and effectively decimated the landscape of Ichigo's mind. Skyscrapers tumbled and fell, some pieces floating in midair and some falling into the infinite abyss below according to the warped laws of physics in that place. Cero after cero exploded against the torrents of Getsuga Tenshous that Ichigo released. The ultimate Tensa Zangetsu clanged and pinged with its less evolved clone._

_However, as Ichigo battled against the physical manifestation of every feral instinct that was locked away in his subconscious, he felt as though he were already defeated. Even though both combatants appeared to be equally matched – neither could land a single blow and neither was close to running out of energy – Ichigo felt that his Hollow had already run him through on his sword. Every time he batted a strike away, the nonexistent blade in his gut slid in deeper. Every time he unleashed a Getsuga Tenshou that same blade tore at his flesh. It was the strangest experience, to be fighting a battle that had not been won by either party, yet was won by force of will alone. _

_As Ichigo parried and countered, his feeling became reality. The Hollow easily dodged his counter and managed a glancing slash to Ichigo's midsection. Slowly but surely, the inverted version of his former King gnawed away Ichigo's defenses and drew blood when he could. Finally, with one solid blow, the Hollow shattered Tensa Zangetsu into thousands of tiny black shards. Ichigo sank to his knees and gazed absently at his broken weapon, then up to the maniacal Hollow. Although he could not see past the hellish mask, he knew the pale victor was grinning sadistically. _

"_**I told you, Ichigo. You won't even be the horse now. I don't have any use for you."**_

_And as the white copy of Tensa Zangetsu rose high above its wielder's head, preparing to taste the blood of its victim, Ichigo wondered how he had lost. Even Zangetsu's power hadn't been enough to do away with the Hollow. Why? Why, even with all that strength could he not beat his instincts. Then, as the white sword dropped, Ichigo realized, and he smiled. _

"_I can't defeat you."_

_The white blade disappeared. Gone, as if it had never existed at all. The Hollow that once wielded it stared incredulously at his hand. _

"_**What the hell did you do?" **__the monster demanded, grabbing Ichigo by the collar and planting his fist in the shinigami's face. _

_Ichigo chuckled hoarsely, ignoring the Hollow's outburst and continuing. "I can't defeat you because I can't defeat my instincts."_

_The black fur lining the collar and wrists of the Hollow's stark white uniform disintegrated and reformed, though red now, on the corresponding places of Ichigo's uniform. The Hollow's fists released and he jumped backwards, eager to avoid whatever trickery his old master was employing. Ichigo, free from the clutches of the monster, straightened up and smirked, his sclera turning black and his irises yellow. _

"_Before, I was able to beat you because my human sensibilities were stronger than my instincts. But when you cage the beast, its anger grows, and you (my instincts) grew stronger the longer you were locked away."_

_White armor laced with streaks of red began to form upon Ichigo's person, starting at his toes and climbing upward. The Hollow, conversely, was losing the hierro-like armor that he previously wore. He was clawing at his skin, vainly attempting to piece his armor back together. _

"_So it figures that the only way that I can ever beat my instincts is to acknowledge that they're there. And allow them to become a part of me."_

_The white armor had reached Ichigo's neck and his brilliant orange hair reached to his rear. The only vestige of the Hollow's power that remained was his mask, and he was determined not to allow the King to have that as well. _

"_**I'll kill you! You hear me. I'll kill you, you bastard!"**_

_The monster flew forward, full of fury and righteous killing intent, aiming with his outstretched hand for Ichigo's jugular. But before he could reach his master, the Hollow stopped moving, locked in place by an unseen force. Much to his anger, his mask disintegrated and appeared again on Ichigo's head. With that, an unholy waterfall of raw, unconstrained reiatsu rained down upon the Hollow and forced him to his knees upon the rebuilt skyscraper on which the pair now stood. Ichigo was no longer the Captain of the Third Division, he was no longer a shinigami. Now he was only a beast ruled by his every instinct. Every animal aptitude that he possessed and, prior to that moment, ignored came to the forefront and drove him. He wanted to be the strongest, to rule. He was KING. He tilted his head downward and peered at the once proud Hollow. _

_Tensa Zangetsu materialized in Ichigo's hand and he swung mercilessly. __**"Be gone," **__he rasped. And just like that, Ichigo's Hollow was assimilated into his being, so that Ichigo was truly the King._

OoOoO

Suddenly, Ichigo swung his blade and dropped into a lunge. Then, he let out a blood-curdling roar. _**"KILL!"**_

Grimmjow was unable to stop his opponent's next attack. Ichigo moved faster than any being he had ever encountered, swiftly slicing through Grimmjow's hierro and rendering his body useless. The proud panther collapsed, struggling to breathe. The power he had just witnessed dwarfed an Arrancar's ability, even a reborn Arrancar such as Grimmjow. Grimmjow absently thought that it might even be on par with the power of Lord Victor. Regardless, his time was over and he was processing the idea of his inevitable death. Soon, Ichigo marched back to his prey with slow, heavy, deliberate footsteps. One clawed foot flipped Grimmjow onto his back and the other clamped down on his windpipe, choking off the little air that the fallen Arrancar was able to obtain. The monster leered over Grimmjow and charged a cero between the horns of his mask.

Grimmjow, despite his situation, grinned. If this was how things had to be, he was glad that he had been defeated by an opponent so worthy of fighting. He glared defiantly at the victor. "Good luck," he choked out.

Ichigo growled. _**"I am the King."**_

Grimmjows barking laugh was silenced by the explosion of Ichigo's finishing blow.

Ichigo released his bankai and the remnants of his armor peeled and broke into pieces. He quickly replaced Zangetsu on his back and began towards the center of the arena that Grimmjow was guarding. Ichigo's old enemy was guarding something, Ichigo was sure of it. There was no other reason to guard such a strange structure otherwise. He would find whatever it was that the panther was hiding and make sure that the warrior's death counted for something.

OoOoO

**A/N: So, what did ya think? I don't see a lot of explanation in a lot of stories about how he's able to access that crazy awesome Hollow power, and this was a cool way to explain it. Next is wrapping up the fighting and a little bit of brooding. **


	10. La Flama y el Relampago

**A/N: I am so very sorry to everyone who has read even one chapter of this story. When college hits, it hits hard and it tends to make you forget about everything else you had going on. At any rate, I managed to crank this out and I'm pretty pleased with the storyline. Hopefully I'll have another chapter typed up by tomorrow so you'll have something else to read before I go dark again. I'll try to stay on this, but like I said college hits hard. Read, enjoy.**

**I don't own Bleach or its characters.**

**OoOoO**

Moments after Grimmjow's body dissolved and became one with the expanse of black desert, a triangular section of the white stone upon which the two powerhouses had battled rose out of the ground. Ichigo found that beneath the slab was a staircase and he could only surmise that this unorthodox doorway opened when it sensed the disappearance of a powerful reiatsu. No matter. The Soul Reaper would not look a gift horse in the mouth and cautiously descended the white staircase. His head was barely below the level of the arena when the levitating block dropped into place. The spiral hallway was now bathed in darkness and Ichigo had to siphon a bit of his Hollow energy into his eyes to be able to see effectively. He began to worry that marching into this particular opening had not been such a good idea, but his gut told him that he needed to head down these stairs.

"Just wonderful," he griped. But, not one to ignore his gut, he pushed onward, determined to find his comrades.

As he descended further into the darkness, and as he had nothing better to do, his mind wandered to Rukia. She had been acting strange as of late and he was worried about both her emotional and physical states. While Ichigo knew she could handle herself, he also realized that she was recently distracted, for lack of a better word. Whenever he saw her, her eyes were glazed, as though she were thinking about something. Her lips would turn down in a cute pout every once in a while and her fingers would twitch.

Ichigo's eyes softened and turned sad as these thoughts continued. He knew that he felt something that was far more than friendly affection for the smaller shinigami, his companion and battle consultant for the better part of the last century. In fact, he would go so far as to all it love. Every time he was in her frosty presence, he could barely contain himself. He wanted nothing more than to sweep her up and never let her go. It was only natural; they had shared so much of their souls with each other over the years, it would be insane to think that they were not strongly connected. However, Ichigo had to keep his feelings in check. That hardly had anything to do with the fact that he was her superior. Rather, he knew that Renji had, subconsciously or not, laid his claim to her years ago. Ichigo saw the way his friend looked at her, saw the glares he sent to every male that dared to make a pass at her. And for all he knew, Rukia felt the same way about Renji. After all, she had known him since childhood.

There had been a moment that day - when she came to him in the infirmary - when her normally frigid reiatsu had warmed and gravitated toward his own. But the change had been fleeting and Ichigo chalked it up to friendly concern.

Ichigo hardened his gaze again and scowled deeply. There was no use in getting emotional. He could only hope that she was safe with the rest of their party. She had no business being dragged into this, and the Captain of the Third Division was beginning to think that something was sorely amiss. Grimmjow was put in his path for a reason, he was sure of it. As if the deity that reigned over the realm of Hell knew that Ichigo would have to go through the deceased Arrancar. The old Arrancar had said as much. The only way to confirm his suspicions was to find Renji and the others and devise a plan of action.

OoOoO

Elsewhere, Kanaye was engaged in heated combat with Ulquiorra Schiffer. The former Espada was gauging his opponent's movements, reading his strike patterns. Though he would never admit it aloud, Ulquiorra was the slightest bit worried. The shinigami had given up his weapon in favor of his bankai, which appeared to be of a sort that fused with its wielder and acted as an amplifier. It was pure, unrefined energy that stretched and contracted with Kanaye's movements. Originally, Ulquiorra surmised that this would prove to be Kanaye's undoing, considering that all of his previous attacks were directed with his sword. Quite the opposite. The shinigami Captain was well versed in hand to hand combat, more so than in zanjutsu. All of a sudden he was a thousand times quicker and a thousand times stronger. Every punch was a shot from a cannon, every kick a rock solid pillar of destruction. Ulquiorra was having difficulty blocking him. That said, he was holding back most of his power in order to judge his adversary's strength and he was confident that he could end this fight with a strike from his Lanza del Relampago. He used sonido to increase the distance between them and focused his energy into the green weapon.

Kanaye stared him down, still in a fighting stance and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Ulquiorra expertly twirled his lance and aimed at the Soul Reaper.

"Goodbye, trash," he said, unleashing the lance. It flew straight and true, faster than any bullet, detonating on impact with the ground in front of Kanaye.

Orihime guarded herself and Uryuu with her shield, but was barely able to hold it up against the onslaught of green energy. Between the massive explosion and Kanaye's obliteration, the shield collapsed as its master broke down in another fit of tears. She had been hopeful when Kanaye had revealed his final release, hopeful that the fighting would end soon and she and her comrades could find a way back to the Seireitei. But now... Now all she could do was cry. She was numb to everything surrounding her. She didn't even notice that Uryuu had fainted as the onslaught of reiatsu aggravated his concussion.

Ulquiorra turned to them and charged another lance, pleased with his victory over the three shinigami. Soon the girl and her companion would feel no more and they would be incinerated like the garbage they were. But as he took aim, something solid and searingly hot collided with his ribs, sending him tumbling head over heels into a mountain of sand. In a flash, he was back on his feet, almost disbelieving the information his eyes were feeding him. The shinigami Captain was alive and well, but his irises were glowing red and his sclera were black even without the presence of a mask. His reiatsu was still incredibly dense and suffocating with a heavier quality to it, but it was calmer and more controlled as opposed to the raging mass it had been minutes ago.

"Your reiatsu," Ulquiorra began, setting aside his disgust for the time being, "is much less barbaric than it was." As he spoke another weapon materialized in his hand.

Kanaye grinned a feral grin and flexed his claws. _**"My bankai is...unstable at best. It's unique because it must be controlled with an unusually high level of reiatsu. Unfortunately mine alone isn't enough to keep it under control for more than a few minutes,"**_ he explained. Ulquiorra was taken aback by the warble in his opponent's voice but prepared his next strike all the same. _**"Your little stunt accelerated the process and I lost focus for a second. Had to use my Hollowfication to stabilize my bankai."**_ Ulquiorra lunged at Kanaye, using his incredible sonido to close the distance and thrust his lance at Kanaye, intending to land a killing blow.

To his surprise, he found that the tip of his energy weapon was being held steadfast by the shinigami, the rings of flame around the Soul Reaper's wrist bursting to life as the bankai absorbed and discarded Ulquiorra's power. He was so surprised that the indifferent mask upon his face slipped and his eyes widened.

"How?"

"_**You didn't let me finish."**_

Kanaye grasped Ulquiorra's windpipe with his right hand, the orange fire around his wrist flaring wildly, and the former Espada immediately felt the sensation of having liquid fire poured down his throat. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't do anything but sputter as his adversary lifted him easily off the ground. His tail was frozen in place as were his wings. What was this power?

"_**My bankai needs to be contained because it doesn't operate on my own power."**_

Ulquiorra's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Kanaye's reiatsu skyrocketed beyond anything he thought could possibly erupt from a lowly shinigami. Simultaneously, he felt his life force draining from his body.

"_**It produces this amazing output of strength and speed because it absorbs the reiatsu of my enemies and converts it into power that I can use for my own. Your mistake was feeding your lance into my bankai, allowing me access to your energy. In a few moments you'll turn to ash and I'll absorb your power."**_

What he said was true. The seconds ticked by and Ulquiorra's body took on a deathly grey hue. His eyes sunk into their sockets and his bones showed through to the surface of his skin. Kanaye, although still grinning maniacally, gazed sorrowfully upon his opponent.

"_**I take no pleasure in this, but you forced my hand. Your power is mine now."**_

Ulquiorra's body turned to ash and Kanaye's bankai absorbed what was left of Ulquiorra's reiatsu. As it did so, Kanaye struggled to maintain his composure, the addition of such a powerful spirit something he was unused to. The bright flames attached to his bankai grew and died erratically, coping with the intense onslaught of Hollow energy as well as they could. Slowly but surely the flames stabilized and the molten orange coursing through the black bankai settled into a happy glimmer. Eventually Kanaye managed to calm his bankai enough to seal it into its shikai form and he replaced the sword on his back.

He turned back to his comrades and frowned when he saw that Uryuu was finally unconscious and Orihime was trembling in fear.

OoOoO

To say that Orihime was terrified was an understatement. That voice and his blood red eyes, she had seen those traits before. They were the telltale signs of a shinigami infused with a Hollow. Ichigo had been her introduction to that particular sort of being and it had been unsettling, but bearable. Simply put, it was Ichigo and at that point in her young life she believed she loved him. However, the gentle healer never really adjusted to the idea that the likes of the Vizards were able to control and harness the power of the monsters that lived inside of them. Perhaps it was because her first true experience with a Hollow unfortunately coincided with the death of her poor brother. Whatever the reason, Orihime still feared the awesome abilities of those who had undergone Hollowfication and made a point of avoiding them whenever she felt their unique qualities in action.

In this case, however, her uneasiness was multiplied tenfold. She barely knew the man who had just saved her life and she and her lifelong friends were more than once betrayed by someone considered to be an ally. Coupled with her frazzled state and her shock over seeing Ulquiorra again, that feeling was not one that she was handling well.

Kanaye was making his way slowly towards her now and it took all of her willpower to fight the instinct to raise her shield. He still reeked of Hollow energy; the main difference between shinigami and Hollow reiatsu was that Hollow reiatsu was plain evil. As he stepped closer, Orihime focused on the shifting sand beneath his feet instead of on him, attempting to displace the fear that was creeping up on her.

Suddenly he was directly before her, kneeling in the sand next to Uryuu. She chanced a look and gasped when Kanaye lifted the fallen archer over his back and nodded for her to follow.

"We have to head for the tower. No telling what else is waiting out here for us. You can heal him on the way," he said in a low, rumbling voice, almost as if he were assuaging the tangible fright within the younger shinigami. And somehow, as Orihime responded with an emphatic affirmation, she thought that he didn't seem quite so scary anymore. That certainly didn't mean that she trusted him, but the fading Hollow reiatsu was merging with his restrained shinigami energy and the darkness intertwining with the light made for a pleasant warmth as they continued on their journey.


	11. Journeys

**A/N: Damn. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. I've had this sitting on my drive for two weeks and forgot about it completely. Came across it today by accident. Again, my deepest apologies to everybody who was expecting a new chapter sooner. Your ire is well earned.**

**OoOoO**

Renji and his troupe of followers had reached the tower without interference. Nothing popped out of the shadows to swallow them whole. The only beings that they saw were tortured souls here and there across the landscape. They appeared to be trapped within themselves, for they did not acknowledge the group of shinigami moving across the black sand. Once, Rukia ventured closer to one just to be certain that they were no threat. She didn't know what to expect, but what she heard was disturbing. The soul of a greasy-haired, spectacled man mumbled quietly to himself about several beautiful teenage girls. Rukia recoiled in disgust and rejoined her friends, content to stay far away from these souls. They were in hell, after all.

Eventually, the tower loomed before them in all of its simple glory. It was a structure at least two hundred stories tall with no windows and no outward decoration. It was of plain tan stone that pulled at the energy of the Soul Reapers around it, trying to rob of them of their spiritual pressure. The act did not seem to be one of conscious thought on the tower's part. Rather, it seemed to be a property of the building material, much as the properties of seki seki allowed it to completely negate reiatsu. The four travelers stopped for a moment to wonder at the sheer size of the tower before Renji spoke.

"What the hell? What is this thing and why is there no door?" he roared. His irritation was not lost on Chad and Rukia, both of whom stepped away from the seething Captain. He might be their friend, but his power was mighty and neither wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

"You're the one who said this is where we should head!" Rukia yelled indignantly. Just because she feared Renji's power didn't mean she was going to treat him any differently that she had for decades.

"First of all, we all agreed to head for this thing! Second, how was I supposed to know that there wouldn't be a damn door!"

The two old friends continued to argue, Rukai commenting on Renji's idiocy and the male retorting with amusing jokes about her still diminutive height. Chad, instead of watching the pair as he normally would, turned his attention to the mammoth building. It looked sturdy enough, but there had to be a structural weakness. Nothing that big was simply stuck in the landscape with no way to get in or out. They could try walking around to check the other sides of the tower, but each side was, by Chad's estimate, at least half a mile long and there was no guarantee that they would find an entrance. With that thought in mind, Chad did the only logical thing, grasping the hilt of his zanpakuto as he made the decision. He made a door.

"Defend, Kyojin."

Rukia and Renji ceased their bickering to gape at the new opening in the object of their troubles. They then turned to Chad, whose right arm was still steaming from the burst of energy he had released. He glanced at them, then pointed at the hole.

"I found the door."

OoOoO

Ichigo followed the twisting hallways for what seemed like hours. The stairs he hadn't minded; they were simple, the only way to go was down. But once he reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, several hallways presented themselves. Each appeared endless and each was as dark as the last. That really pissed him off. In the end, he went with his gut and started off down the hallway furthest to the left. A few minutes later, he came to another set of hallways and met another choice. The scenario repeated itself every few minutes. At this point Ichigo wasn't sure if he was choosing untraveled paths or if he was retracing his steps. Regardless, he was getting sick of this and if he came to another fork in the road...

He stopped abruptly when he realized he was standing in the crossroads between five more hallways. Enraged, he unsheathed Zangetsu.

"That's it. Getsuga..." He stopped mid-sentence when the blue reiatsu coursing through his blade flowed out of the sword and into the wall, upon which it traveled down a hallway. Ichigo sent another pulse of energy through Zangetsu and the reiatsu again flowed down the same hallway. Intrigued, and immensely pleased to have discovered something that might possibly act a compass, he started down that hallway, releasing bursts of reiatsu as he went.

OoOoO

For the first hour after Kanaye defeated the reincarnation of Ulquiorra, the pack traveled in silence. Uryuu was quiet because he was unconscious, Kanaye was quiet because he was focused on reaching the tower lest some other monstrous creature try his hand at defeating them, but Orihime was quiet because she was unfocused and unstable. Seeing her former jailor had unleashed a thousand unpleasant memories that she was sure were shut away forever, and seeing Kanaye trounce him as he had reminded her that both he and Ichigo were harboring the beasts that, as shinigami, they were sworn to eradicate. She wasn't sure whether to cry, smile, or to simply break down all over again.

She certainly wasn't the helpless little girl she had been during the Winter War, but she thought a hundred years of experience and training would take the edge off of her unfortunate tenure in Hueco Mundo. It did not.

The healer looked up at Kanaye. She was trailing behind a bit, so she could only see part of his profile. Adminttedly, he looked pleasant enough. If she were honest, she would even say he was perfectly handsome. But those eyes. Those steely silver eyes could turn red at any moment because of what was inside of him. Was he like Ulquiorra under the exterior of a shinigami, and a Captain at that? Would he hurt her as the Arrancar had hurt her? These were silly thoughts, she knew, but here mind was fractured and it was treating the possibility of Kanaye turning on her as a very real one.

Orihime began to hyperventilate. She felt trapped. If he was like the Arrancar, she couldn't get away. She knew that she couldn't compete with his strength. Besides, she couldn't leave Uryuu behind. What was she going to do? She was so immersed in her panic that she didn't realize that the Captain had stopped walking and so she walked straight into his back. Quick as a flash, she jumped back and clutched her hands to her chest in a single tight fist. Her knuckles were turning white and her breathing had doubled.

"You're scared of me."

She didn't register that her superior had spoken at first, too overwhelmed by the emotions coursing through her. When his words finally reached her brain, she was shocked.

"How...?"

"Your reiatsu was spiking all over the place and when I stopped to check on you, you jumped away. And now you're avoiding my eyes."

What he said was true, and with much effort she forced her eyes to his. She was afraid to find red, but all she found was the usual silver.

"You still haven't answered my question," Kanaye said calmly. "Why are you afraid of me?"

Orihime bit her lip, wondering if she should tell him the truth. If he was an enemy, she shouldn't speak to him, let alone spill her feelings. However, her mind was slowly piecing itself back together and the small part in charge of rational thought encouraged her to tell him what was bothering her.

"I thought that you might be an enemy. Because of..."

"Because of the Hollow sharing my soul," Kanaye finished. Orihime nodded nervously.

Kanaye looked contemplative, then confused, then sad. At last, his face returned to an expression of neutrality and he turned around and started walking.

"I'll tell you a story if you follow me," he offered over his shoulder. He made no move to stop. Orihime was frozen, but her recovering mind recognized that she at least needed to continue to heal Uryuu's reiatsu. So naturally she followed, throwing her healing dome over Uryuu once she caught up. She thought she saw Kanaye smile a bit, but she wrote it off as her imagination playing tricks on her.

"Now for that story."

OoOoO

_Once upon a time there was a little boy who lived in a forest with two other little boys, a kind old woman, and a young man who took care of them all. They were a happy little family. None of them were really accepted by the society they lived in because they all had strange abilities. The old woman could predict futures, though she often kept her predictions to herself. The young man was able to teleport at will, which was how he got to the nearby village most of the time. Two of the little boys, twins, could move small objects without touching them. And the other little boy had a gift that the kindly old woman said was the most special of all: he could create life where there was none. He only ever managed to use his gift to make little plants grow and it took a lot of energy to do so, but the old woman assured him that his gift would grow with time. _

_The four of them lived in peace in the forest. Sometimes they would go hungry for a meal or two, but they all worked together to make their life the best they could. The old woman made their clothes, and the little boys gathered firewood and berries from the forest. The young man would help with the firewood once in a while, but most of the time he was gone to the town to try to make some money any way he could._

_One day, when the young man was about to leave for the village, the old woman grabbed his arm and begged him not to go, saying that if he did then bad things would happen to all of them. Even though he knew that the old lady could predict the future, he left and said that he would be very careful that day. When he left, the old woman cried and cried and the little boys tried to make her feel better, but she just hugged them and asked them to go play in the forest. The little boys, eager to please and willing to obey any request from the kind old lady, did as she asked. Hours passed and the little boys came home much later than usual, but the old lady and the young man were not in the house. The little boys searched for the missing pair, but they were horrified at what they found. _

_Behind the little cottage, the three boys saw the young man standing over the old woman while she bled. The young man disappeared and reappeared in front of the little boys. The twins were quickly disposed of, but as the young man turned to the third little boy, he suddenly froze._

"_This body is dead," the young man said._

_The remaining little boy, cowering on the ground, watched as a man with a toothy white jawbone attached to his own jawline came out of the young man. He was wearing a white uniform and he had a hole in his chest and lots of blood all over the uniform. But the blood wasn't coming from the hole; it looked like someone stabbed him in the stomach. There was blood in his white hair, too, and the little boy thought he even had blood in his eyes, but he saw that it was because the man's eyes were red. _

_He didn't look like he could move, but he asked the little boy why he was crying. The little boy told him that he had killed his family. The man laughed when the boy said that. Family, he said, was a waste of time._

_For a long time after that, the man just stared at the boy, smiling much like a wolf, unable to move. And the boy stared back, too scared to run, his tears long since dried up. The little boy asked who the man was. The man looked angry, then said, "La Cero."_

_Then he disppeared. At once the little boy felt something – someone – else inside his head and he screamed at the pain of having another person claw at his mind. He felt his strange powers reacting to the man that had tried to take him over, but because of the pain he fainted._

_When he awoke, he heard the thing in his head yelling at him. _

"_What the hell did you do to me?" it said. "Why can't I get out! Let me out!"_

_The little boy didn't know what had happened, but he was scared. What if the man killed him, too? What if he tried to kill other people. The boy wandered alone for years after that. His power no longer worked to create life. Instead, anything the little boy touched withered and died. Sad and terrified, the boy dedicated his time to learning to control his warped ability. He stole to survive, every day listening to the threats of the thing in his head and every day retreating into himself to speak to the monster that now appeared to be a mirror image of the boy. Eventually he grew accustomed to it and the thing grew accustomed to him, especially when they both figured out that the thing was stuck in his head permanently. The thing even started calling him 'Boss'. Even so, the boy, now much older, never told anyone about what happened all those years ago._

_Once he realized that everything was under control, he joined the Shinigami Academy, intent on making sure that what happened to him never happened to anyone else, for he now knew that the man that came to him that night was a powerful Hollow. Surprisingly, the Hollow agreed to help the boy and offered his powers willingly, combining his essence with his host's. From that point on, the boy and the monster vowed to become stronger. _

OoOoO

"I still don't understand it myself," Kanaye finished quietly. "He never asked for anything in return. He actually seems to be happy to sit back and watch the show. Except when I need his power to heal myself. That's what you saw the first time: I let him take over so that his regenerative abilities could take care of my wounds."

Orihime was thoroughly perplexed. She had just born witness to the saddest story she had ever heard, but the fear of the Hollow had dissipated, despite the fact that she recognized the Hollow's introduction as the title of the most powerful Espada.

"But you don't have a mask. Your eyes changed, but there was no mask." The words came unbidden and she was immediately struck dumb. The gentle healer felt incredibly privileged to be allowed a glimpse into the Captain's past and she did not want to antagonize him. Because of that hesitation, she missed the tension that tightened Kanaye's body.

"Why should there be a mask?"

Orihime screwed her face up into a confused expression. Ichigo had a mask. The other Vizards had masks. Why shouldn't he have a mask? Though she wanted to say those things, she didn't wish to betray the trust of her oldest friend and she had no clue how much Kanaye knew about the others of his kind.

"No reason."

Not another word passed between them until they reached the tower. However, when they did finally reach their destination, the pair were more than a bit baffled. The tower was solid, literally. There were no windows or ornamentation of any kind. There was no door in the smooth beige stone either.

"Looks like the little blue men helped the aliens steal all the doors..." Orihime muttered to herself.

"What?" Kanaye asked. He clearly was not expecting that line of reasoning to exit his companion's mouth.

Realizing what she had said, Orihime waved her hands frantically and hastily excused herself.

"Oh, nothing, Captain! It's just that the little blue men usually stay at home to play tricks on me, they don't usually follow me to strange places, but it looks like they have this time."

She continued to rant, but Kanaye didn't listen. He was glad that her fright had fled, but he did wonder how a person as experienced in the world as she was able to remain so childlike. Still, he smiled when he turned back to the expanse of stone. At least she was speaking again. Swiftly, he set Uryuu down in the sand and handed the bulk of the former Quincy's weight over to Orihime. Interrupted in the middle of her speech, she squeaked and grappled to hold Uryuu more or less upright.

"Hold on to him tight. This is gonna be a little...shocking," Kanaye grumbled. He dug his heels into the black silt, extended his left arm so that the flat of his palm was aimed for the tower wall, and braced his right hand against his left forearm. What he was about to do was not a pleasant experience for him, but it had to be done.

"Hado 31." A tiny ball of red light coalesced in Kanaye's palm. "Shakahou." The light flickered, then exploded into a torrent of fire that nearly blew the three shinigami backward and most definitely obliterated every inch of the tower that it touched. Orihime blinked, then looked to her superior. His silver eyes met her quizzical greys for a moment before he shrugged apologetically.


	12. Reunited

**A/N: I hate class, and by extension I hate having to wake up before 8:00 AM. But whatever. Such is life, and I finally finished this chapter. Its been a helluva stumper. Didn't really know what to do with it, so I turned it into a filler so that everybody can get their crap together. Read to your hearts' content.**

**OoOoO**

Kanaye allowed Orihime to step through his improvised doorway while he collected Uryuu once again and nearly fell over when he heard her shrill squeal. In one swift movement, he dropped Uryuu, drew his weapon, and leapt through the hole in the tan stone, ready to defend the woman who had already suffered too many harsh memories for one day. To his surprise and subsequent panic, the auburn haired shinigami raced past him before he could stop her. He was about to flash after her to pull her back, but his feet faltered when he saw the people she was running towards. The newest Captain sighed and twirled his blade, sheathing it on the upswing. Behind him, a loud groan alerted him to the forgotten member of their group.

"Sorry about that, Ishida," Kanaye apologized quickly, waving at the former Quincy. The younger shinigami was awake now, his only remaining injury afflicted on his already wounded pride.

"Not a problem," the raven-haired warrior replied with a glare, massaging his lower back and jamming his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. His superior's lips twitched as if he were suppressing a smile, but the older man settled for a nod of his head. Uryuu, trying to get his bearings, examined his surroundings. The inside of the tower was only slightly more impressive than the exterior. The walls, of course, were of the same tan stone as the body of the structure, but the floor and ceiling were made of a smooth black stone laid out in a grid pattern. Each cell of the grid was roughly twelve feet square, but the individual squares were dwarfed by the size of the room. If Uryuu was correct, the walls of the tower acted as the perimeter of the room, so the room itself was more like a massive warehouse. Strangely, the black material that composed the floor and ceiling appeared to draw in all the light in the room, giving Uryuu the sense that he was able to see in pitch blackness. The sensation was disconcerting.

Meanwhile, Orihime dashed over to Chad, Renji, and Rukia, beaming up at them and recounting the tale of their journey sans Kanaye's strange Hollowfication. She made a note to speak to Rukia about it later, since she and the smaller woman shared that particular secret. She wanted to know what Rukia thought about this development, for she would surely have a plausible theory to explain Kanaye's power. For now, though, she settled for babbling about Ulquiorra's sudden appearance, the Fifth Division Captain's incredible bankai, and the kido that created such a large opening in the wall behind her. By this time, Kanaye and Uryuu had joined the gaggle of shinigami and those who had not witnessed Kanaye's display of kido prowess looked at him expectantly.

He blinked, looked away for a second, then scratched his forehead. "I really only know a few kido spells – the ones that don't require good reiatsu control. I can't really control my the direction of my spiritual pressure that well..."

"Cut the shit, Ronin," Renji snapped. Everyone present gawked at him as though he had lost his mind. Did he have a death wish? Renji was no slouch, but Ichigo had trounced him plenty of times and Kanaye displayed fighting abilities at least on par with the powerhouse of the Third Division. Speaking to a fellow Captain with such disrespect was sure to stoke a fire under Kanaye."You're hiding things from us. I didn't say anything before because I trusted the Captain Commander's judgment plus we needed the extra strength. But now we're stuck in this hellhole and I'm not convinced that you're as harmless as you seem," the Ninth Division Captain hastily explained. Kanaye opened his mouth to speak but his colleague cut him off. "I don't want to hear about how it's on a need-to-know basis or that you've been sworn to secrecy or whatever other bullshit reasons you have. You kick the ass of an Arrancar that even Ichigo couldn't beat decades ago, then you all of a sudden know destructive kido. I'm starting to think that you have a lot to do with us being here."

Those not involved in the one-sided argument backed away from the pair of Captains, wary of the sheer force that the two could produce if it came to blows. Renji was clearly angry; he had closed the distance between himself and Kanaye, barely a foot away from him. He was staring the younger Captain in the eye, daring him to speak. Kanaye, for his part, looked thoughtful. Then, he drew in a breath and opened his mouth to speak once more.

Suddenly, one panel of the pitch black floor trembled ominously, putting every Soul Reaper on alert. Each one drew their zanpakuto, preparing for whatever nightmare was about to rise from the depths of this colossal structure. With a great moan and the scraping of stone on stone, the block rose up of its own accord, baring access to a flight of stairs that led the level of the floor. Heavy footsteps echoed off the walls of the stairway, prompting the ragtag troupe of shinigami to grip their swords tighter. A figure came into sight, its hand holding a giant, guardless cleaver. A few seconds went by before anyone registered what was going on.

"Hey," Ichigo smirked, hefting his zanpakuto onto his shoulder. "Long time no see."

OoOoO

Captain Byakuya Kuchiki was incensed. Normally he could contain his fury behind the mask of cold indifference that his father wore once upon a time. This time, however, he found that the mask was not enough. He had forced lower-ranking shinigami to their knees in passing as he unintentionally allowed his dense pressure to leak out. Never in his life had he been to righteously, justifiably angry. Two days ago his adopted sister – the only person that he considered real family and the girl that had become his pride – was drawn into the vortex of Hell's gates and Soul Society was no closer to sending a rescue party than it was two days prior. The Captain Commander stated that there was no need to send anyone after the adopted Kuchiki and her peers. She was with three capable Captains and the rest possessed reiatsu above the level of a Lieutenant. Aside from that, nobody knew what was beyond that gate and it had been a huge risk to send three Captains through in the first place.

None of that mattered to the Kuchiki patriarch. Rukia was his sister, for God's sake, and because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time she was drawn into yet another battle that wasn't hers to fight. Byakuya worked hard over the years to mend and strengthen the relationship he had with her. His first battle against the Kurosaki boy had been the catalyst for all of it, and from there he began to see Rukia less as Hisana's sister and more as his own flesh and blood. He found out more about her and in turn let her past the icy exterior of a Kuchiki noble. When he recognized her power for what it was, he requested that she become his Lieutenant and she happily accepted. Hell, Byakuya even gave her the freedom to associate with the likes of Kurosaki and Abarai, two people he would openly admit were unbearably uncouth.

Now she was in Hell. Or worse, she was dead. Byakuya had to reign in his anger again once that thought crossed his mind. He would have faith in her abilities as well as those of her comrades, but he couldn't help but worry. The Commander was right when he said that sending another party into hell was horribly risky, so Byakuya would refrain from rushing off like a brute without thinking. But something about this situation did not sit right with Byakuya. He vaguely recalled the Captain Commander reasoning that the only ones who could survive in Hell were those with sufficiently brutish personalities because they would be able to resist the finer machinations of sinful souls. However, if that were true, the old Commander should have been more distraught over losing four powerful Soul Reapers, three of which were Lieutenants and two of which could easily go toe to toe with a Captain for a short time. None of the four harbored personalities similar to the three chosen Captains. And for that matter, exactly how did Yamamoto know what was waiting for them behind those bejeweled doors? Did he really know at all?

In a flurry of black shihakusho and white haori, Byakuya Kuchiki was on his way to the private Kuchiki libraries, intent on solving the mystery surrounding Soul Society's latest mission.

OoOoO

Renji desperately wanted to reopen the debate he was having with Kanaye, but stifled his anger for the sake of solidarity. He would have other opportunities to harass his fellow Captain, but now was not the time for unfounded quarrels. The lot of them had to stick together and keep each other informed about the wasteland they were exploring, so the three Captains set to work debriefing each other. Ichigo related his battle with Grimmjow, explaining the difficulty he had defeating his old rival. He conveniently eschewed the bit about his Hollow transformation: he had yet to let anyone else in on that secret. Not even Rukia had been privy to such sensitive information because he frankly wasn't sure how his friends would handle. it. They were surprised when they found out about the Hollow living inside Ichigo's mind, but bonding and becoming the Hollow were completely different from simply harboring it.

Kanaye retold his experience with Ulquiorra, also leaving out the finer details of his bankai, only hinting at its potential. Orihime interjected when she felt that something needed to be added, gesticulating wildly to Ichigo about Kanaye's amazing power. The Fifth Division Captain agreed that the Arrancar was a tough opponent, though not on the same plane as the beings that invaded Soul Society. Ichigo was surprised at that story, though he supposed he shouldn't have been. He destroyed Ulquiorra as completely as he had Grimmjow, and the Cuarta was tougher than the Sexta.

Once everyone was brought up to speed, the pack of shinigami took to examining the tower. They noted the features that Uryuu pointed out to them: the odd stone, the grid pattern, the eerie darkness. Still, none of them could see any way to move within the structure. The staircase that Ichigo ascended earlier had once again disappeared beneath black stone and there didn't appear to be any way to force the heavy panels out of their sockets. Almost immediately the Captains came to the consensus that the best course of action would be to destroy the ceiling as they had the walls.

"Maybe you can show us that crazy kidou you used before," Renji griped before he could stop himself.

Kanaye frowned. "From what I hear you can't even cast a level one hado without blowing yourself to shit. You sure you aren't just jealous?" the younger Captain returned.

Renji bristled and went for his zanpakuto, intent on cutting the cocky kid to ribbons. Rukia stepped in and slammed her fist into Renji's stomach before he could so much as grab the hilt of the sword.

"Your bickering isn't getting us anywhere," she yelled, glaring at the two Captains. The pair had the decency to look sheepish. "Now, Ichigo, if we're going to do this, could you please open up the ceiling."

"Sure, midget," he replied, unsheathing Zangetsu. The adopted Kuchiki would have stomped on his foot had Renji not interfered and dragged her a safe distance away from the rubble that would surely fall once Zangetsu finished with the black ceiling. Ichigo hauled his zanpakuto above his head with one hand, allow the giant blade to siphon his spiritual pressure through it.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

The blue arc sped towards the ceiling and connected, but it did not turn the dark material to dust. Instead, the attack was absorbed and dispersed through the stone until there was nothing left of it. Ichigo was surprised to say the least.

"What the hell?" he roared, sending out another Getsuga Tenshou only for it to be absorbed and dispersed. He tried twice more to obliterate the ceiling with the same result. "The fuck is going on?"

"Maybe it's like seki seki, the stone that the wall around Seireitei is made of," Rukia offered. "Although it doesn't completely negate reiatsu like seki seki does. It seems to just be able to absorb what's given to it."

"Smart girl. You get a point for cleverness," a new voice chuckled from behind the group of Soul Reapers. In a split second every one of them had their zanpakuto at the ready.

"And who the hell are you?" Ichigo harshly demanded of the newcomer.

"My name is Nicola da Cortona. It's a pleasure."


	13. The Devil's Advocate

**A/N: HAHAHAHA! Triumph! I finally finished the next two chapters. I rewrote them five times a piece, trying to find a good way to continue the story. I was stuck for so long and now they're finished! Enjoy this one, the 14th will be (mostly) edited and out by the end of the week.**

**OoOoO**

Nicola da Cortona turned out to be a rather remarkable man for his being as a whole. He wore garb similar to Aimone and Enzo, a solid black suit over a black t-shirt. The attire was simple, but it flattered his toned physique and slicked platinum blonde hair. His face harbored all the features of a Greek god and, although he stood only as tall as Ichigo, his presence felt like that of a giant. Deep brown eyes bored into the tense group, alight with mischief. Instinctively the Soul Reapers knew that Nicola was monstrously powerful. They would have to tread lightly in this situation, a feat that would be damn impressive given the depth of Renji's already prodded temper.

Sure enough, a head of flaming red hair marched a few steps in front of everyone else. "What the hell do you want? We don't have all day to sit around a gawk like schoolgirls!" he menaced, brandishing Zabimaru angrily. Ichigo and Rukia shared a look that clearly marked Renji as a complete idiot. The temperamental Captain certainly knew not to aggravate a foe of unknown origin after all his years as a Soul Reaper, yet he continued to act the same as an unranked shinigami.

To the relief of all present, Nicola did not take offense at Renji's outburst. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it, perking up at Renji's obvious irritation.

"Feisty, aren't we? I haven't been sent to fight you, but I'll be forced to accommodate you if you attack first," the blonde smiled.

Rukia fancied that Renji's bristling hair resembled a porcupine right then, his anger boiling over along with his spiritual pressure. "Fine with me. I'll wipe the floor with you."

Ichigo and Rukia had the good sense to grab Renji by his collar before the Ninth Division Captain could cause any trouble. Kanaye stood slightly behind, watching the debacle with nearly as much amusement as Nicola.

Always the strategist, Uryuu stepped forward, zanpakuto still ready to defend if need be. "You said you weren't sent to fight," Uryuu began. "Then what, exactly, were you sent for?"

Nicola appeared extremely pleased that the former Quincy picked up on his implication. He hadn't said he was sent for any specific reason, but the young Soul Reaper recognized the significance behind goading Renji as he had. "Ah, very good, Ishida is it?" Uryuu tensed when the imposing man mentioned his name. "But we don't have to get to the point so quickly. It's so seldom that I have company, especially company that destroys the walls of my humble abode."

"Doesn't look like much of a home to me," Ichigo replied. Rukia, having dealt with a now steaming Renji, was ready to deck Ichigo for doing the same thing that his fellow Captain had done not five minutes ago.

"Well of course," Nicola chuckled, sliding his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "This floor is only for support of the structure, not for show." He made a wide gesture. "My apologies for the choice of building materials. Everything in this dimension is rather bleak, including the stone."

Nicola walked backwards for several paces, stopping in the center of the enormous room. He turned back to face his new Soul Reaper friends. Behind him a series of panels rose from the floor and separated into thinner rectangular blocks. Those smaller blocks became stairs to the ceiling above, the square of stone where the ceiling and the stairs connected rising upwards to create an opening. "Now put those swords away. Like I said: it's rare that I have company. Plus we have a few things to talk about."

The blonde demon headed up his newly made stairs, expecting the shinigami to follow. Against their better judgment, each of them sheathed their blades and trod after their host.

OoOoO

Nicola's living arrangements were surprisingly lavish. Everyone expected the walls and floors to covered in blood and runes and goodness knows what else. To their pleasant surprise the second floor of the tower was decorated in western Victorian era furniture. The room the Soul Reapers emerged in was much smaller than the one below, not even an eighth of its size. That said, the room was still significantly larger than any foyer they had ever seen. Because there were several doors leading to other rooms, the shinigami surmised that this floor was laid out to be Nicola's home instead of a warehouse. Two sofas and two armchairs rested in the center of the room around a coffee table. Except for the table, each piece of furniture was beautifully carved of dark wood and upholstered in deep red fabric. The walls were ornate as well, taking on the look of a Hollywood home from the 1940s. Painted a pale yellow, they held paintings by various famous artists. Ichigo picked out a Monet on the wall directly in front of him. Even the ceiling was decorative; it was shaped in such a way that the viewers could see a slew of Cupids embedded in the shiny golden metal.

For good reason, the group of shinigami were in awe of such a luxurious room. This certainly wasn't what they expected to find in the abode of a demon. Renji, brute that he was, admirably kept his thoughts to himself. Nicola gestured at the sofas, asking them without words to have a seat. Once they had done so, four on one and three on the other sofa, he settled into an armchair and clasped his fingers loosely in front of his stomach.

"Well," Nicola grinned, bringing all attention to his person, "where do we begin?"

Renji, who finally found his voice, spoke first. "How about you start by telling us how a fucking demon got all of this stuff down here in Hell."

Nicola chuckled and cocked his head to the side. "Curious. What makes you think that I'm a demon?"

"Maybe the fact that you live in a big ass tower in the middle of Hell," Renji growled.

"Ah. In that case I can understand how you might think that I'm a demon, but I am not. Demons here are actually the souls of human beings," Nicola calmly replied.

Ichigo voiced his confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. Human souls aren't demons..."

"Certainly they are," the host said. "The souls that are sent to Hell are either purely evil or they have been destroyed beyond repair. The ones that function properly are consumed by their human desires and take to trying to enter the world of the living. Their sheer will to leave and their twisted minds give them power beyond normal human souls."

Nicola looked pointedly at the Ninth Division Captain. "To answer your question, Captain Abarai, a soul rarely finds a way out of our dimension. But when it does, I sometimes influence it a tiny bit so that it will bring me something I desire."

Rukia glared at her host, unnerved at his dismissal of the souls that were trapped in Hell. Orihime appeared to share her sentiments, although her face was contorted into an expression of horror rather than contempt.

"So you're saying that you just let 'demons' run around in the world of the living," Rukia asked incredulously.

"Not at all, Lieutenant Kuchiki. Demons can only survive in the world of the living for a short time. They don't possess the necessary spiritual density to exist there for very long, nor do they have the ability to interact with souls that have a higher density than theirs," Nicola explained. "Unless they desire to cause damage to buildings they are basically harmless. That's what makes them so easy to influence."

"Which bring us back to what exactly you are, if you're not a demon," Ichigo said. Nicola leveled his gaze with the shinigami's and smiled widely. He was clearly going to enjoy this.

"Me? I am a Respinto, one of the seven truly evil Arrancar sent to Hell for their sins. I am, in fact, the very first."

OoOoO

The Captain Commander sat alone in his office, his grizzled face sagging into a frown. Few things could force an expression of emotion from the Commander, but the last week had been trying on his soul, and now this...

He stared sadly at the open box upon his desk, black velvet peering out at him from a simple rectangular wooden container. He had put off opening the tiny treasure chest for the past ten days, knowing what he would find and hoping he wouldn't find it. Unfortunately, when the lid of the box was lifted away from the body, the Commander found exactly what he expected to find: nothing. No good would have come from inspecting the box before he organized the mission that his three Captains were currently seeing to. Opening the box would have put him in a even fouler mood. However, the Captain of the First Division knew he had to make sure the artifact housed within the box was gone.

A small part of his mind respected the military cunning that the denizens of Hell showed by finding the box. It was well hidden, stored among various other containers of exactly the same size and shape in a cavern beneath Sokyouku Hill composed entirely of seki seki. Additionally, the cavern had been enchanted by the Captain of the Kido Corps, Tsukabishi Tessai, centuries prior. To find it was impressive, to enter it staggeringly so. The artifact was hidden there specifically because the cavern was of no other importance. Had it been hidden near any Division's barracks or in another container of conspicuousness, it would have been found much earlier. That it had been found now rocked the Commander to his core.

The empty box only confirmed his suspicion and added to the feelings of loss that were stirring within him. As he sat alone in his office, the night sky casting the room in shadow, a lone tear escaped the Commander's eye for the first time in two millenia.

OoOoO

Once Nicola announced his true nature, Ichigo became rigid, his body automatically preparing for battle. Zangetsu thrummed angrily, sending a tingle through Ichigo's hand, for when he sat the Captain had removed the zanpakuto from his back and balanced its tip on the floor. Naturally, Ichigo wanted to leap at Nicola and take his head off, but his better judgment held him back. For one thing, none present could properly measure Nicola's reiatsu. It was surely large and powerful, but it was constantly fluctuating, by way of its weilder's will, which made it impossible to decipher. For another thing, Nicola had been surprisingly hospitable so far. He hadn't made any suggestions that Ichigo and his friends were in immediate danger and seemed very pleased to sit there and talk with them.

Thankfully, Ichigo was distracted from his murderous instincts by Kanaye's voice. "So you were sent by Victor to bring us to him." Kanaye's face was set in a firm scowl that rivaled Ichigo's, looking for all the world like he had just received terrible news.

Renji leered triumphantly at the newest Captain. "Ha! I knew it! I knew you had something to do with us running around this desert!"

"Hold on, Renji. We don't even know what he's talking about," Rukia warned, though her eyes betrayed her mistrust of Kanaye.

Kanaye, for his part, ignored the two friends and focused on Nicola. Nicola, in turn, focused his grinning maw on Kanaye. "Victor is the king of Hell. He's what some humans call the devil," the Fifth Division Captain snarled. The others suddenly appeared tiny next to him, his animalistic rage bubbling to the surface.

"Do you believe me now," Renji snapped at Rukia. She narrowed her violet eyes and turned to Nicola for an explanation.

The Respinto, his gaze still trained on Kanaye, sensed her unspoken question. "I'm afraid that your friend is completely correct. Although it is strange that an outsider would know about that particular information, I can assure you that Captain Ronin has no part in this little fiasco of yours, nor do his allegiances lie with my kind."

Renji, who by now had more than enough talking and not enough action, bounced to his feet and drew his zanpakuto. "Whatever. I've had enough of this bullshit. I'll cut you to shreds and ask questions later."

The rest of the Soul Reapers looked on in alarm as Renji released his shikai. "Roar, Zabimaru!" The simple katana instantly grew to one and a half times its original length and sprouted fangs along its cutting edge.

"Renji, don't!" Kanaye shouted as Renji prepared to strike. Nicola made no move to dodge or intercept the rising blade. To the contrary; his expression was gleeful.

Zabimaru fell upon its prey but hissed when its fanged blade met cold steel instead of flesh. Renji gaped at Kanaye, for the younger Captain had moved with lightning speed to block Renji's slash. His back was to his senior, his legs bent in a low crouch and less than a foot of zanpakuto removed from its scabbard. What little of Ankoku, Kanaye's zanpakuto, had been exposed was holding Zabimaru back from biting into Nicola's belly.

Kanaye tilted his head back to look Renji in the eye. "I know you don't trust me," he began, "but believe me when I say that you can't take this guy. What I know and how I'm acting are suspicious, but I'm on Soul Society's side."

Renji was absolutely outraged, and was ready to give Kanaye a good thrashing when Nicola spoke. He had somehow moved across the room and raised the floor panel leading to the ground floor without being noticed by any of the (now standing) shinigami.

"My apologies, my friends, but Captain Abarai's hostility has prompted our immediate departure. I really did mean it when I said that I would retaliate if attacked," Nicola said, peering sadly at Renji. "But it would seem that your good spirits have deteriorated and so there is no more time for questions. Please follow me. Any who do not come willingly will be taken by force."

Looks were exchanged between the shinigami, including Renji and Kanaye. The pair came to a tacit understanding, sheathing their zanpakuto and following their comrades out of Nicola's home. Perhaps following the enemy to the place where he wanted them was not the most prudent idea, but it was the only option at the moment. If nothing else, the seven Soul Reapers would be lead to an important landmark in Hell's black deserts.


	14. When One Door Opens

**A/N: A reviewer recently suggested to me that ol' Kanaye is a self-insert, and to tell you the truth one of my initial fears when I started this project was that readers would get that impression. I assure you that he isn't a self-insert, and in fact he's about 180 degrees away from how I would ideally act or look. Since nobody mentioned anything, I left it alone. But now that someone's relayed his impressions, I feel that it's time to elaborate on Kanaye's condition. I'll address each of that reviewer's qualms as he presented them. **

**The first problem the reviewer had was that he was handsome. In case nobody noticed, everybody except for the dopes in Bleach is handsome. That shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. The second problem was that his attack was bigger and *stronger than Ichigo's. Bigger? Yes. The idea being that it's not controlled and just a great big mass of energy (whereas Ichigo's Getsuga is channeled and controlled through Zangetsu). A Lincoln Town Car's engine is bigger than a Cadillac CTS's six-banger, but I can almost guarantee that the Caddy'll smoke a Town Car every time. I starred "stronger" for this reason: when did I ever say it was stronger? I said "more raw", and I can see how people could mistake that for the word stronger, but I assure you that "more raw" and "stronger" are not synonymous in any thesaurus. There will actually be a chapter in the future that will alleviate any concern about the relative power levels of Ichigo and Kanaye, so look forward to that. **

**The third problem is kinda part of the second: that Kanaye's attack made Rukia worry about Ichigo's safety. Yes, it made her worry. When you have latent romantic feelings for someone, you're going to worry when they get in a fight. Seemed like the best way to set up Rukia to actually show some emotion, emotionally stunted as she is. The fourth, and final, problem was that Kanaye attracted both Orihime and Rangiku. In Rangiku's case, I actually really enjoy her character plus she's a total skeeze. Enough said. As for Orihime: she is an integral part of Bleach, but she has this super-glued attachment to Ichigo. Since I don't particularly enjoy Orihime bashing, I needed a "replacement Ichigo". I thought about every character I knew of, but I couldn't come up with one that was enough like Ichigo to be able to take away her attention. And so Kanaye was created – his original purpose was to distract Orihime, which meant that I had to make him enough like Ichigo to distract her (enter La Cero and the basis of his attitude) but low profile enough that he didn't take the ultimate spotlight away from the rest of the cast (this isn't the Kanaye show, it's the everyone else show). Which is why I was concerned about the first three or four chapters of this story, when I was fleshing him out a bit. **

**It also probably didn't help that the reviewer I mentioned didn't read past the second chapter, when Kanaye was still being an attention hog.**

**A final thought: I salute all you authors who stay 100% true to character arcs and storylines. I appreciate that you have the patience and the willpower to do so. Me? I like to throw a little chili powder in with my steak to give it some kick. If that happens to offend you, then I ask that you please don't waste your time reading my story; and if you just can't stop yourself from reading it, at least have the decency to pick up on the subtler points instead of nitpicking. My apologies for this lengthy note. Thank you to everyone who read past the first three chapters and enjoy.**

**OoOoO**

The trip across the desert seemed much shorter than it should have, but the tension thrumming among the small group hadn't diminished in the slightest. Renji glared daggers at Kanaye the entire way and Kanaye stared pointedly ahead. With the exception of Chad, who was attempting to handle the situation as logically as possible, the other shinigami were confused. They remained quiet, refusing to take any one Captain's side. Nicola was content to ignore his charges and opted to hum a tune of his own invention as he lead the Reapers to whom they assumed was the Lord of Hell.

He guided them into a large, tan stone building that lacked any real exterior style but rather reminded Ichigo of a cathedral of some sort. From there, he lead the seven Soul Reapers through and around a system of complicated tunnels. They were so complicated that even Rukia and Uryuu, with their expert training in tracking reiatsu, were hard pressed to sense the path of spiritual energy that traced back to the structure's entrance. Just like the tower they had left behind, this building's inner walls were composed of jet black panels that absorbed any and all light that touched them. In the cramped area of the tunnels, the effect was even eerier.

Soon enough the group emerged into a long rectangular room, and all but Nicola and Kanaye were surprised when the hard floor gave way to the same soft, warm black sand that littered the landscape of the majority of this realm. A black stone platform with a set of stairs leading up to a throne of the same material rose out of the sand at the far end of the room. Upon the throne sat a huge pale figure swathed in tattered black robes, obscured by the abstract shadows cast by the midnight ceiling.

Seven other figures of various sizes were gathered around the base of the platform, and Ichigo snarled when Aimone, Enzo, and the devilish clone of Senna came into focus. As the captive shinigami came closer to the waiting Respinto, the anti-Senna grinned widely and gave a short giggle.

"Hello again, Ichigo!" she tittered, throwing up a little wave. That only served to anger Ichigo further and he had to squash the urge to rend first hers, then Aimone's flesh from the pair's bones.

Enzo grinned manically, pointing a muscled finger at Kanaye, who had stopped just a few feet shy of Enzo's position. "Gotcha now, ya little bitch." Kanaye simply glared.

Nicola strutted forward, turning with a flourish in front of the great stone staircase. He made a wide sweep with his arms, then bowed low at the waist. "Lord Victor, I present to you our honored guests." He returned to a standing position with one quick, precise jerk, then stepped to the left, shoving his hands in his pockets and facing his captives.

Ichigo, who for the sake of his own sanity ignored the smiling Senna copy, and Renji took stock of their opponents as quickly and covertly as they could. Aimone, Enzo, and Nicola were relatively familiar at this point, but the other ex-Arrancar were mysteries. The smallest of the Respinto stood to the far right and appeared to be no older than a schoolboy. His shoulders were hunched inside a tight black bomber jacket and his arms were stuffed into the deep pockets of his black jeans. He looked as though he were trying to make himself look as small as possible and, if his near invisibility were any indication, he was succeeding. The woman next to him was quite the opposite in personality. Her fiery red hair hung in loose ringlets to the small of her back and her bright green eyes sparkled with the killer intent of one skilled in the art of assassination. A ruffled blouse untucked over slim black slacks concealed shapely curves, although the deep V of the blouse left little to the imagination. She had one thin, pale arm propped on her left hip and the other caressing a sheathed dagger on the opposite hip. The only spot of color in the room shone from the center of her chest, a heart-shaped pendant containing several small red gems.

Next to her stood Enzo and on his right were Aimone and his pet. Next to the two of them, a clearly distracted Nicola kept on humming his ditty and rocking on the balls of his feet. The remaining two were twins, female, each wearing mirror images of the other's bobbed blonde hair. They wore simple long-sleeved t-shirts and tight black jeans and stood so close that they looked to be melded at the hip. One was obviously more aggressive than the other, her shimmering azure eyes hard and icy as opposed to her sister's guarded gaze.

The massive man atop his throne was clearly Victor, but he hadn't yet addressed his "honored guests."

He stayed silent, waiting, watching his captives from underneath the veil of darkness that shadowed his face. Suddenly, a burst of reiatsu shook the room, making the walls and the knees of the lesser souls quake under its pressure.

"Shinigami. Welcome to my humble home," a deep voice rumbled. "You have already met Sinagra, Esposito, and da Cortona. My other servants, Icaro Infante, Marcella Ricci, and Fiore and Flora Moretti are also very pleased to meet you." He motioned to each one of the unknown Respinto in order, distinguishing Fiore as the more assertive of the twins.

As the low vibration of Victor's voice receded, so did the wave of reiatsu, yet the Soul Reapers remained silent. Spiritual energy pulsed and flexed when Victor chuckled, his amusement apparently lost on his army of fallen Arrancar. With what appeared to be great effort, Victor clenched the arms of his throne and leaned forward, slowly rising from his stony perch. Ichigo thought that perhaps time had slowed, the giant moved so sluggishly. Yet his heavy power prevented any sort of movement or escape attempt from the tiny shinigami, and none of the Soul Society's warriors dared reach for his weapon. Once he was fully erect, he began his way down from the platform upon which sat his throne. Step by step came down. Every step saw his form grow larger in the eyes of his captives, and every step they thought that he could grow no more. Finally, at long, long last, Victor came to stand directly between Aimone and Enzo. He stood at least twice as tall as either of them and his mass was proportional to his height. His face, no longer covered in eternal shadow, was covered in burns and scars, the largest of which were made by four claws and ran diagonally from his left temple to the opposite corner of his lips. A ragged mop of stringy black hair topped his scarred head. Victor rested a beefy hand upon the hilt of a massive, guardless katana and grinned widely at the glaring shinigami beneath him.

"Good evening," he began,"or should I say good morning. It is so hard to tell time when one is surrounded by so much darkness," the giant grumbled. "Then again, time is worthless when spending an eternity ruling over a wasteland of discarded souls and disgusting demons."

The shinigami refused to respond, partly out of wariness, but partly because they were unsure how to speak to such an awesomely powerful being when said being began a conversation by making idle chit-chat.

Upon seeing that his guests were mute, Victor snorted, a particularly undignified sound that somehow made his dignity the least of the dangers that waited within his soul. "I suppose you are all wondering why my servants have brought you to me. Or, more likely, why they have brought you to me without removing your zanpakuto." He waved his free hand as though he were dismissing some meaningless drivel. "You may try to escape," Victor growled, his reiatsu shivering accordingly. "In fact, I welcome you to try. The simple fact is that not one of you could best my servants on their worst day."

He said it with such finality, such resolve, that the Soul Reapers knew the truth of the statement even as they peered into the cruel eyes of their Respinto foes. Cold, harsh desperation settled upon their minds, and any ill-defined plans of escape died before they were created. Rukia in particular hardened with the knowledge that there was no way to leave the depths of Hell, and Ichigo glanced worriedly at her when her aura turned frigid.

"Now, to the purpose of your visit."

Victor glared at Icaro, the smallest Respinto, and the small boy scurried off behind the throne. He returned immediately, carrying in one hand a small wooden bowl. The boy practically launched the object into his king's hand before returning to his place in the line of Respinto. Victor, emotionless now, presented the bowl to his captives so that they could see its empty basin. Carved upon the inner surface was a single rune that looked vaguely like something that Ichigo had seen before – a series of triangles drawn over each other to form a sort of jagged circle. A square sat in the center of the shape so that the final product resembled a bursting star – he couldn't remember where he would have seen such an odd symbol.

Suddenly, Rukia gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. All eyes settled upon her trembling form, but Ichigo, he looked at her eyes. And he had never seen her eyes more terrified than in that moment. Not when she was facing the Sokyoku, not when she was impaled by Grimmjow, not when she had to bear being away from Ichigo for seventeen long, heart-wrenching months. The sheer desperation, the fear with which she gazed upon that simple wooden bowl was enough to freeze his blood and sink the icy fangs of fury deep into his heart. Even though the Hollow inside of him was merely a shell of what it used to be, a construct that he willingly allowed to live, Ichigo could feel the latent Hollow's screams for Victor's blood. How dare he strike that sort of fear into _their_ little shinigami.

"That...that _thing_. That was supposed to be destroyed even before Yamamoto was Captain Commander." Her voice trailed off into a whisper, the fear in each syllable palpable in the reiatsu-laden air.

"Quite right, Ms. Kuchiki. I'm certain you learned of this when you were training to inherit your surname," Victor said happily. "Would you care to enlighten the rest of my guests as to this trinket's nature?"

Ichigo, his rage alight and the recent use of his Vasto Lorde shell augmenting that rage, nearly snapped and unsheathed Zangetsu, but one look at Rukia quelled his anger. She pointed absently, not really seeing or hearing what was going on around her. In that moment, he had never seen her so broken, and his instinct to protect won over his need to bring down the walls around him.

"It's the Tobira," the petite shinigami whispered.

"The door?" Renji shouted, his curiosity deflated now that his old friend has just called that tiny thing a door. "Rukia, it's just a little bowl, there's no way it's a door."

"No, not a door. **The** door. A portal to anything in any universe in any reality," the short shinigami continued, some of her consciousness returning to her violet eyes. "It eats the souls of Shinigami in order to open the portal. The last time someone tried to use it, all of Soul Society was consumed!" Her whispers turned to panicked shouts, and Ichigo grabbed her by the waist to keep her from lunging for the Tobira. "We have to destroy it! I can't watch everything around me be devoured! Not again!"

Ichigo froze. Again? When had she seen everything devoured the first time?

"You are almost completely correct, little Kuchiki." Rukia went silent and limp in Ichigo's arms, though she appeared to be conscious still. The orange-haired Vizard gathered her up and held her to his side, ready to speed away at a moment's notice. Victor closed his massive hand around his newest possession and nodded in appreciation for the youngest Kuchiki's knowledge. "But, you are wrong about one thing. The Tobira does not feed on souls, it feeds on spiritual pressure. It would take huge numbers of enlisted shinigami to open a portal for even a second. However, if it were to consume three incredibly powerful Captains instead, well...the potential would be limitless."

The final pieces at last clicked into place within the minds of the shinigami, and Orihime sobbed involuntarily at Victor's implication. The horror of their predicament was laid at their feet, ready for them to see now that the wool had been pulled from their eyes. Renji growled, a deep sound that came from his throat. "No," he spat. "I don't believe it."

Victor laughed with all the gusto of a maniacal tyrant, his vibrating reiatsu forcing the walls of his sandy palace outward with the force of its exuberance. He stepped forward, beaming straight into Renji's feral eyes. "Believe it, my shinigami friend. The three of you will soon be eaten; ground and processed as though you were worthless scum. And your unwitting brethren?" He paused, leering at the lower-ranked shinigami before returning his attention to that head of flaming red hair. "Well, they were never meant to tag along, but they should make a decent snack..."

The air cracked and Victor was blown backward, crashing through the staircase that led up to his throne and into the far wall. Stone and sand crumbled together into black dust, the ruins of the tall throne slamming into the formless floor. Each Respinto was speechless, staring with open mouths at the wall where Victor had disappeared into a wide crater. The shinigami were equally amazed, but hadn't seen or felt any force that could have sent Victor flying at such incredible velocity.

Then, with little warning, a waterfall of dense, dark reiatsu crashed down upon the room, forcing Uryuu and Orihime to their knees. Ichigo recognized the tone of the pressure immediately, as did Renji and a newly revived Rukia. For they were all very familiar with the unique blend of Hollow and Shinigami that formed the profile of a Vizard. Wild cackling from within their group confirmed their fears and they all turned to face Kanaye. He flexed his outstretched fist and shook out his hand even as his fierce red reiatsu poured out of his body in angry waves.

"_**You sorry sack of shit,"**_ Kanaye roared at the spot that marked Victor's sudden stop. **_"I can't believe you forgot me, even after all this time."_** His twisted voice cackled once more, although this time it sounded angry instead of joyful. The Respinto had recovered by this time and were prepared to leap at the insolent brat that dared to strike their king, but the same booming reiatsu that first greeted the shinigami when they came before the broken throne exploded throughout the room.

"You...I never imagined that you were more than a distraction for my servants to enter the Soul Society," Victor's voice called from the crater in the rear wall. A burst of sound similar to that which accompanied sonido rang out, and then Victor was standing unharmed before the small group of Reapers. His grin spoke of crazed amusement, but his coal black eyes promised slow, agonizing death. "But I could never forget the stinking fucking Hollow that **TRIED TO TAKE MY THRONE AND GAVE ME THESE SCARS!**" The ruler of Hell jabbed a meaty finger at the claw marks crowning the other smaller burns and scars, spittle sloshing from his lips.

"_**And I'll never forget the smug fucker who put his hand in my gut,"**_ the Hollow retorted. **_"And now I'm gonna return the favor, so let's play while the Boss is still in the mood to let me run free."_** The Captain reached for his sword.

"Wait, Kanaye!" Ichigo yelled. Having regained control of his addled brain, he set aside his reservations about the newest Captain's state and concentrated on the fact that one of his comrades was about to race into battle with a being who was, for all intents and purpose, a god.

"_**Don't worry about me, Kingy," **_the imposter Kanaye crowed. He turned to face his companions, and all but Orihime recoiled when they saw his black and red eyes. **_"Me and fugly here are just gonna have a little fun."_** With that, he turned and whipped Ankoku from its sheath with the force of a whirlwind.

**OoOoO**

**A/N: I was going to add a lot more to this chapter to give it a little more substance, but I've gone overboard as it is, so I'll stick the rest in the next chapter.**


	15. Fight and Flight

**A/N: So here I am, back again. My apologies to those who've been waiting for another chapter, and my apologies to those who just found this recently and expected a chapter sooner. Also, my apologies to those of you who were hoping I would stop writing for this story. I'm sorry to say, I've not abandoned it just yet. It was a PITA trying to figure out what direction this story was trying to go in, but I took another look at it and realized that I built it all in by accident. Enjoy.**

OoOoO

"The hell you are!" Enzo's thin dagger crashed into Ankoku's blade and drove its wielder past the other shinigami. "You and I have a fight to settle!"

The two separated and the Hollow controlling Kanaye's body snarled. _**"Get the fuck out of my way you pansy-ass," **_he spat venomously. Enzo grinned in response, then impaled himself with his own dagger.

"Rise, -."

His body convulsed and blood poured from his lips, drenching the black sand before seeping into it. White tendrils exploded from the dagger wound and wrapped around his trunk, piling onto each other until the fallen Arrancar had taken on the form of a gigantic scorpion with a humanoid torso. The helmet encasing Enzo's head was a ghastly visage of a spider's face, complete with eight blood-red eyes.

The Hollow huffed, spitting into the sand in front of him. His weapon twirled once, sending a fine cloud of darkness into the air. _**"Guess I'll just have to rip your ugly head off first."**_

Kanaye's companions had no time to observe his exchange with Enzo, for the other Respinto leaped into action directly, forcing the Soul Reapers into combat. Icaro, the smallest of the lot, quietly faced an equally silent Chad. Marcella had cornered Uryuu, his wounds barely healed, against a black wall. The twins, Fiore and Flora, stared down an angry Renji and a shaken Rukia. Ichigo was left glaring hotly at Aimone, who was staring back, uninterested. His pet, Senna's unnatural clone, looked as though she would tear out of her skin any moment unless her master gave her the order to attack. Nicola had back Orihime up to the entrance of the castle and was eying her disinterestedly.

Zangetsu hummed with blue reiatsu, and just as Ichigo was prepared to haul the cleaver back and unleash his zanpakuto, Victor flashed in front of Aimone. Instantly the attack dissipated, the Captain's caution overriding the adrenaline-soaked portion of his mind. Attacking an opponent whose talents were as of yet unrevealed would only bring misfortune. He would have to wait and feel out the abilities of Hell's Prince, providing he lived long enough.

Satisfied that the small shinigami had staved off his attack, Victor barked over his shoulder. "Aimone, hold onto this." He tossed the small bowl, the Tobira, to his demonic general. The lesser being caught it deftly. "I'll need it to absorb this shinigami's soul once I've crushed him."

The Captain of the Third Division stiffened. Victor was strong, monstrously so, but was he really so strong that he could scoff in the face of the powerhouse of the Seireitei?

"Lord Victor, would you not prefer that I disposed of this rodent?" Aimone inquired, though he sounded indifferent to the scenario.

Victor stayed silent and drew his giant katana with a mighty hand. Ichigo's eyes creased as the strength hidden in that sheath leaked out of the blade. Victor's strength had just increased at an exponential rate, overshadowing the relative pinpricks of spiritual pressure that were Ichigo's comrades. It even threatened to stifle his own, but he pushed back with equal force. "Bankai. Tensa Zangetsu." The smooth black katana formed in his hand and his shihakusho tightened around his body. The shift was immediate, Ichigo's bankai beating away Victor's overwhelming pressure. Neither man had struck yet; their battle had been one of pure strength, a measure of whether each was worthy to battle the other. Victor seemed pleased, his toothy grin stretching the ugly scars on his face into distorted shapes. Ichigo remained stoic and felt the store of energy he had access to. It would be enough to unleash the Vasto Lorde, but the concentration needed to fully unlock that darkest of powers would be difficult to come by. It was all Ichigo could do to match his opponent's enormous output; this battle would be a challenge, indeed.

"Go ahead," Victor growled, his mighty voice shaking the ground around his hulking form. His smile grew as he stabbed the sharp end of his weapon into the black sand. "I wouldn't have called for the Seireitei's strongest warriors if I didn't expect a true warrior's battle."

Ichigo frowned. "You would allow an opponent to unleash his full power without trying to kill him first?" He spat at his feet. "I find that fucking hard to believe."

"Believe what you will," Victor shrugged. "You may remain on guard, but I assure you that I'm very excited to test the strength that I've been building for the last millenium. And I don't intend to waste it on a Captain who only uses a fraction of his power."

OoOoO

Chad managed to avoid another swing from Icaro's diminutive blade, a pair of spiked silver knuckles. He felt the brush of air across his cheek and he leaped to the side and rolled into position next to Uryuu. Never mind the tiny Respinto, Chad's goal had been to slide nearer to Uryuu. Despite the fact that the two were different as night and day and that Chad's zanpakuto found its origins in Hueco Mundo, the pair often trained together and had developed an excellent battlefield rapport. What was more, the larger man recognized that his friend's condition was far below what he needed to fight any sort of Arrancar. Their only hope was to run, and fast.

Uryuu glanced at Chad, his hands already glowing, awaiting the release of power that was sure to come. "Plan B?" the former Quincy questioned. The ghost of a smirk played at the corner of his lips. Chad gave a sharp nod, and the two turned back to Marcella and Icaro, both of whom were readying for another charge.

In a split second, Uryuu threw up an enormous version of his own Ginrei Kojaku, and Chad had wordlessly released his shikai. "El Directo!" he roared. The massive shield that covered his right arm unleashed a blast of condensed reiatsu that passed through Uryuu's seal, flowing apart and together again faster than the eye could blink. It exploded outward, twice its original size, and the combined attack struck the Respintos dead center.

The two Soul Reapers took full advantage of the distraction and flashed away to grab a struggling Renji and his small counterpart.

OoOoO

Renji flung his arm to the side, bidding Hihiyou Zabimaru to protect Rukia from one of the twin Respintos while simultaneously chomping into the other. Rukia was next to helpless at the moment, her earlier episode seeming to interfere with most of her battle skills. She was aware enough to parry and attack half-heartedly with Sode no Shirayuki, but her eyes were cloudy and a dazed look was plastered to her face.

The Captain couldn't protect her and fight at the same time, and his disadvantage was showing. Zabimaru was valiantly shielding its master, but Fiore and Flora were quite accurate with the Luce attack that seemed to be the calling card of the Respinto. Renji's flesh was seared in several areas, the places where the Luce struck with enough force to demolish a skyscraper. As it was, the Captain had expended too much energy and wouldn't be able to fight effectively even if Rukia was removed from the scenario. He could only hope that his companions were able to find a way to get away from this godforsaken place as quickly as possible.

No sooner had the thought run through his head than a streak of red and blue plowed into Flora and blasted from the air to the ground. Fiore let out a horrible screech and set off a Luce in the direction of the blur. Renji, seeing his opportunity, funneled all of his strength into Zabimaru and shouted, "Hikotsu Taiho!" The bone cannon fired a single shot that squarely struck Fiore and sent her careening into a wall of the dark palace.

The red and blue blur came to rest before him, and Chad and Renji waved. Renji took the hint, scooped up Rukia with one arm, and took off after his fellows.

OoOoO

"It seems that most of your party has left the stage I've set for them," Victor chuckled.

"You don't seem very upset about it," Ichigo retaliated. Just a little longer.

"I can't say that I am upset. My soldiers will hunt them down shortly."

There, all of the energy necessary to unleash the beast was prepared. As though sensing the change in Ichigo's spiritual pressure, Victor clapped once and removed his sword from the sand. It shifted like a serpent, then fell silent.

"Excellent. Now that you're ready, we can begin," the behemoth hellion crowed. Reiatsu swirled around the feet of both men, awaiting the orders of their respective masters.

"You sure that you want to fight against him?" Ichigo asked, raising his left hand to his eyes. His fingers curled into claws and black reiatsu coalesced at his fingertips. "He's not exactly the happy-go-lucky type."

Victor smiled.

"Suit yourself, then." The Captain of the Third Division brought his hand swiftly downward. "Bankai, Segunda etapa."

The Vasto Lorde, woken from his slumber for a second time, called his anger to the sky, sunken yellow eyes turning all of their ferocious delight upon Victor's form. Its coiled muscles twitched in anticipation and steam filtered through the jaws of the hellish mask. If one had not known better, Ichigo might have been mistaken for the king of hell.

"Bankai!" Victor called. A titanic wave of reiatsu washed over the battlefield, stunning the ruler's army as well as the two Vasto Lordes occupying the space near Victor. The massive man was concealed in the vortex of his own power for several long moments, before finally a being of the same general shape and size of Hell's prince stepped from the smoke. "Colossocavaliere," it rasped.

The Vasto Lorde eyed its prey warily. Never had it encountered a being with power equal to its own, and this being certainly had power of that magnitude. The giant stepped fully into view and displayed its new armor. The bone white covering was modeled after a medieval knight, with an eerily grinning mask where the helmet would be. The contours of the armor were rough, battle-scarred, but in its prime it must have been beautiful. In the giant's right hand was a dual-edged broadsword nearly the length of the giant's body.

The two powers glared at each other, daring the other to make the first move. Each was tense and coiled, but the Vasto Lorde was ever confident; it crashed forward, blade high and poised to deliver a killing blow. It would have struck through the body of the colossus, had the warrior not raised his own blade. The Vasto Lorde might as well have been moving in slow motion. It brought its blade to counter the giant, but to its surprise Zangetsu shattered with the impact of the larger weapon. The Vasto Lorde twisted and landed a fair distance behind his opponent. It looked to its ruined blade in confusion, snorting once and tossing the hilt to the side.

"_**DIE!**_," beast screamed, charging a red cero between its devilish horns. The crimson doom blast connected with Victor's chest, and the Vasto Lorde growled its approval. Suddenly, out of the wreckage shot the hulking knight and, with great pleasure on its part, it sheared through the Vasto Lorde's hierro and impaled the stomach of the beast with its enormous blade.

"You are impossibly weak," Victor's visage rasped, even as the Vasto Lorde writhed and lashed out against the skewer in its abdomen. "An animal at best. And now, it is time for the weak to die." He extended a single finger and sickly green light gather at its tip.

OoOoO

Ankoku lurched out of the shredded remains of Enzo's battered armor. The Hollow controlling Kanaye's body sniffed and slung the blood from the silver blade. _**"No fight at all."**_ The former Cero kicked Enzo's shattered, but still breathing body. _**"Pussy."**_

The pained screams of a fellow Vasto Lorde reached his ears and Kanaye twisted in their direction. Victor had skewered Ichigo's body, the larger man's power levels skyrocketing far above the limits they'd exhibited when the Cero had fought Hell's ruler last. He twirled Ankoku and sighed loudly. _**"I'll miss ya, Boss."**_

He tossed the blade into the air and calmly said, _**"Bankai."**_

From the cloud of black ash he shot.

OoOoO

Something incredibly fast slammed into Victor's grinning helmet, knocking the huge knight to the side. The Vasto Lorde grasped the giant blade in its stomach and slung it away only for its rightful owner to catch its handle with one hand.

"So, La Cero, you've decided to release your full power as well. My, what a day," Victor said as he clambered to his feet.

The Vasto Lorde noticed the being to his left and, after checking to make certain the hole in its stomach was healing correctly, glanced over. The thing stood just shorter than itself and was covered in solid black armor. A red seal glowed over its left breast and crimson rings of flame adorned its wrists and ankles. It wore a black mask in the shape of a wolf's face, and jagged red stripes in the shape of claw marks ran vertically down from its top. But its most memorable feature was the red of its irises and the black of its sclera.

The things looked from the Vasto Lorde to Victor and chuckled a dark, eerie chuckle. _**"Goddamn it, Vic, when are you gonna lie down and admit defeat like a man."**_

Victor stepped forward. "I do believe you've decided not to notice that my power is ten times what it was when we last met."

The black Vasto Lorde shrugged, and the white Vasto Lorde growled. It did not like talk. Talk was for the King, not for the King atop his Horse. It clacked its jaws.

"_**Well said, Kingy,"**_ the blackened Hollow barked. **_"Who ever said that it was ME who was gonna beat YOU?"_**

In a single, swift motion not unlike Victor's impalement of the white Hollow, the Cero spun and grasped the white Vasto Lorde's helmet with a clawed fist. His eyes, just for a moment, turned sad and victorious all at once. _**"I'm leaving this one to you, King."**_

And the Vasto Lorde's world burst into a spectrum of unimaginable agony.

OoOoO

**A/N: Finally, a chapter finished. If you haven't guessed yet, something big just happened there at the end. Care to speculate as to what happened? Questions, comments, and the like are all welcome as usual. If your comment consists of bashing that's less than a full sentence, I'll ask that you don't bother burning the calories it would take to type it.**


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